The time of travel by train between several major cities in China is soon to be cut by almost half.

Trains traveling from Beijing to Shanghai and from Beijing to Guangzhou will be able to sustain speeds of 200 km per hour after workers on Tuesday completed replacing new switching equipment on the northern sections of China's two major north-south trunk lines.

The rail company says once it fully implements the new speed limit it will only take seven hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai and about six hours to travel from Beijing to Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.

Sources from the 6th China Railways Co. Ltd. say this will the sixth time in recent years they have raised speed limits on some major routes.

The Beijing Railway Construction Company upgraded the switching equipment at a section between Liulihe and Songlindian on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway Line and between Damanzhuang and Changzhuang on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway Line.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2005)