Bullet trains will be added to the Hefei-Nanjing line from August 1, shortening the journey time between Hefei and Shanghai from over six hours to just under three hours.

The journey time from Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, to Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, will be cut from 85 minutes to 59 minutes.

The Shanghai Railway Bureau said four bullet trains will run between Hefei and Nanjing, with six between Hefei and Shanghai.

The price between Hefei and Nanjing will be 67 yuan (US$10) for ordinary seats and 80 yuan for better seats. Tickets between Hefei to Shanghai will cost from 160 yuan to 192 yuan, according to Jianghuai Morning News.

Of the trains between Hefei and Nanjing, one will stop at Feidong and Quanjiao for a total of four minutes and the others will be express route.

Two of the trains between Hefei and Shanghai will stop at several stations while two will only stop at Nanjing, the Xin'an Evening News said.

The Hefei-Nanjing railway is the first line designed to cope with a maximum speed of 250 kilometers an hour in east China. The 166 kilometer line opened on April 18.

Currently Bombardier trains are used, traveling at 160kph. After the bullet trains are introduced, they will be removed.

The lines are a key part of the national express railway network connecting the Xi'an-Hefei, the Wuhan-Chongqing-Chengdu and the Beijing-Shanghai lines.

Before the Hefei-Nanjing railway line opened, trains from Hefei had to travel up to four hours to reach Nanjing and up to eight to Shanghai.

(Shanghai Daily July 23, 2008)