A new high-speed railway in Fujian province will start service on Thursday, slashing travel time between the major cities of Fuzhou and Xiamen to less than an hour, China State Railway Group said on Tuesday.

When the new line is put into operation, the fastest travel time between the two cities will be cut from 1 hour and 18 minutes to 55 minutes.

The 277-kilometer line, with a designed top speed of 350 km per hour, has eight stations.

The new high-speed service in southern China follows on the success of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-speed Railway and the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway.