JINAN — A rail line entered operation in East China's Shandong province on Nov 26, bringing Yimeng mountains, an old revolutionary base, into the country's fast-developing high-speed rail network for the first time.

The newly launched section, which links Rizhao and Qufu, both in Shandong, stretches 235 km with a designed speed of 350 km per hour, slashing the travel time between the two cities to 1 hour 14 minutes from the current 3 hours 13 minutes.

There are eight stations along the section, six of which were newly built for the rail, including stations such as Linyi and Mengshan, home to the revolutionary base.

More high-speed rail lines have been launched to connect Linyi with other parts of Shandong and the rest of the country, which will promote local economic development and poverty-reduction efforts.