A high-speed train running on the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway set a new speed record of 413.7 kilometers an hour Tuesday.

The train, running between the metropolis of Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang province, started trial operation Tuesday morning.

The high-speed train is scheduled to officially start operation in later half of this October with reducing rail travel time between the two cities to 38 minutes.

Trains on the 160-kilometer railway line are designed to run at a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour and will cut 40 minutes off the current journey time by express train between the two cities.

The high-speed railway line, which has a total investment of 29.68 billion yuan, commenced construction in February 2009 and is expected to transport 80 million passengers per year.

Earlier reports said the ticket prices would be around 75 yuan.

(China.org.cn September 28, 2010)