A city tourism alliance created by seven cities located along the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway was established on Monday in east China, aiming to promote regional tourism along the railway.

The seven cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Cangzhou of Hebei Province, Jinan of Shandong Province, Bengbu of Anhui Province, Nanjing of Jiangsu Province and Shanghai, signed a declaration of cooperation on Monday in Jinan, the capital city of east China's Shandong Province.

The declaration requires the signatories to cooperate in areas such as passenger source research, tourism promotion and cross-city customer service.

The 1,318-km high-speed railway, which runs along east China from Beijing to Shanghai, connects two of China's most important economic regions: the Bohai Sea Rim Region and the Yangtze River Delta Region.

The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will be fully operational by the end of June, allowing passengers to travel between Beijing and Shanghai in less than five hours. The railway's trains will hit top speeds between 250 and 300 km per hour and are expected to transport 160 million passengers annually.