The Huzhou-Hangzhou section of the Hefei-Hangzhou High-speed Railway enters trial operation stage on July 6. [Photo/hz66.com]

AG55301bullet traindeparted from Huzhou in East China's Zhejiang province for the provincial capital of Hangzhou at 8:00 amonJuly 6.

The journey marked the beginning of the trial operation of theHuzhou-Hangzhou section of the Hefei-Hangzhou High-speed Railway. The trialis expected to lastno less thanamonthbeforethe officialopeningof the linein August.

The railway line broke ground at the end of 2019 and entered the testing stage inlateApril2022.

As of July 5,2,023 test trains hadbeen operatedon the 137.8-km rail line, traveling57,226 kilometers in total. Themaximum speedreached during the testswas385 km/h.

The section has six stopsinHuzhou, Deqing, Hangzhou, Fuyang and Tonglu. Deqing and Tonglu are two sub-venues of the recently postponed Asian Games.

Theopeningof the new linewillboost connectivitybetweenGames venues, accelerate Huzhou's integration into the Yangtze River Delta, as well as bolster the construction of the "one-hour" traffic circle pattern in Zhejiang, in which passengers fromanycity in the province can get to another within an hour.