China Focus: New railway improves NE China's economic prospects

A new high-speed railway linking the major cities of northeast China's Jilin Province and built to provide a boost to the under-developed border area's economy opened on Sunday.

The Jilin-Tumen-Hunchun High-speed Railway extends 360 km through nine stations and runs at 200 km per hour, shortening the travel time between provincial capital Changchun and Hunchun from more than seven hours to three hours.

It offers the first passenger rail service to Hunchun, on the border of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia. Officials hope the line can help increase import-export business, with the area's traditional heavy industry suffering.

The project broke ground in 2011 and was put into trial operation in August.

Liu Liyun, an exporter to Russia, is optimistic. "I have increased my stock with the new line opening," Liu said.

Similarly inspired, leading Chinese carmaker FAW Group is building a logistics center in Changchun.

An industrial cradle in the 1950s, the northeast gradually lost glory after China's opening up. Poor transportation limited its development.

The Tumen River area is the intersection of a number of economic circles involving China, Russia, the DPRK, Mongolia, the Republic of Korea and Japan.

In 2009, China launched the Changchun-Jilin-Tumen Development Pilot Zone, which played an important role in opening the border areas and international cooperation in Northeast Asia. The country has backed this up by developing the road and railway network in the region. Endi