BEIJING -- A 91-km high-speed railway line, linking the cities of Changde and Yiyang in Central China's Hunan province, entered operation on Monday.

With a designed speed of 350 km per hour, the new railway that connects the 63-km Yiyang-Changsha line has slashed the travel time between Changde and Changsha, the provincial capital, to 59 minutes.

The construction of the newly-opened railway started in June 2019. It is part of a major rail line connecting the southwestern Chongqing Municipality with the city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province.

This railway is also connected with several high-speed railways and intercity railways in Hunan, serving as a prominent regional liaison line, said Zhang Changchun, a designer with the China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., Ltd.