Summary：Beijing - China Wednesday commenced service of the world's longest high-speed rail route of 2,298-kilometre (1,...

Beijing - China Wednesday commenced service of the world's longest high-speed rail route of 2,298-kilometre (1,425-mile) between Beijing and Guangzhou to cover the distance from the capital to the southern commercial hub in around eight hours, almost one-third of the 22 hours previously required.

Running at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour on the new high speed rail network, the new bullet train G80 is the latest milestone in the country's rapid and -- sometimes troubled -- super fast rail network.

Two trains were flagged off in the opposite directions from stations in Beijing and Guangzhou Wednesday morning, Spanning over half of China, the train has 35 stops in major cities such as Zhengzhou, Wuhan on the Yangtze River and Changsha.

China Central Television broadcast the departure of the first train live from Beijing West Railway Station. It also carried live reports from inside showing passengers toting cameras to snap commemorative photos.

State media reported that December 26 was chosen to start the passenger service on the Beijing-Guangzhou line to commemorate the birth anniversary of revered Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1893.

A total of 155 pairs of trains will run on the new line each day, and alternative schedules have been made for weekends and peak travel times, according to the Ministry of Railways (MOR).

Allaying concerns that the new line would increase passengers' travel costs, the railway authorities have decided to continue with the services of 183 pairs of trains that used to run daily on the parallel old Beijing-Guangzhou line..

A second-class seat on the new high-speed line costs 865 yuan ($138) as against around 430 yuan for a sleeper on the old line.

"The opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line shows China's high-speed railway network has started to take shape," said Zhou Li, director general of science and technology of the MOR, reported Xinhua.

With the opening of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line, China now has more than 9,300 km of high-speed railway in operation.

The new line is one of four north-south lines expected to serve as the country's high-speed railway backbone, which also features four east-west lines.

According to the 12th five-year plan for railway development, by 2015, China will have around 120,000 km of railway in operation, including 18,000 km of high-speed railway and an express railway network of 40,000 km, which allows speeds of over 160 km per hour, stated Xinhua.

Preparations for a new high-speed line linking the central Chinese cities of Zhengzhou and Xuzhou are underway. The line will intersect the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed rail line and the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line, which started operations on June 30 last year.

"The rail network closely connects economic hubs like the Pan-Bohai economic zone, central China, the Yangtze River Delta economic zone and the Pearl River Delta economic zone and will greatly boost socioeconomic development in these regions," said Zhou.

Other than passenger travel, the new Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line is also expected to cut logistics costs and enhance the investment environment along the route.

The Beijing-Guangzhou route was made possible with the completion of a line between Zhengzhou and Beijing. High-speed sections linking Zhengzhou and Wuhan and Wuhan and Guangzhou were already in service.

China's high-speed rail network was established in 2007, but has fast become the world's largest with 8,358 kilometres of track at the end of 2010. By 2020, the network is expected to be almost doubled to 16,000 kilometres.

Notwithstanding the expansion of high speed network, China's railways has been plagued by graft and safety scandals, In July 2011, China witnessed a deadly bullet train collision in which 40 people were killed, leading to public outrage.

The accident was China's worst rail disaster since 2008.

Wide criticism that authorities are compromising safety in their rush to expand the network has led the authorities to focus more on maintenance and inspection of infrastructure, including track, rolling stock and emergency response measures.

The Global Times newspaper, which is seen to have close links with the ruling Communist Party, on Wednesday quoted a Ministry of Railways official acknowledging continuing problems despite intense efforts to solve them during trial runs.

"We can't make sure it's error-proof in the future," Zhao Chunlei, deputy chief of the ministry's transportation department, told the newspaper.