The first commercial bullet train trips on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway departed at 3 p.m. Thursday, one from Shanghai and the other from Beijing.

Premier Wen Jiabao attended the open-to-traffic ceremony in Beijing and himself took the bullet train to Shanghai.

The 1,318-kilometer trip, links together the country's prosperous Pan-Bohai and Yangtze River Delta economic zones, cutting the train-travel time between the two cities to under five hours from two days half a century ago.

The rail line, which has been operating on a trial basis since mid-May, opened one year ahead of schedule.