[Photo/广州花都发布(ID: gzhdfb)]

Two new intercity railways officially began service in Guangdong today (November 30), further facilitating the travel of local residents and tourists in the province.

[Photo/广州花都发布]

Guangzhou-Qingyuan Intercity Railway, the first ever cross-city rail line serving Qingyuan city in northern Guangdong province, starts service today. With a designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour, the new railway will shuttle riders between Guangzhou and Qingyuan in 33 minutes, and an express journey skipping some railway stations takes only 16 minutes.

Stretching over 38 kilometers, the train starts from Huadu station (花都站) in Huadu district and terminates at Qingcheng station (清城站) in Qingyuan city, passing through four other stations—Letong (乐同) and Shiling (狮岭) in Guangzhou, and Yinzhan (银盏) and Longtangzhen (or Longtang town) (龙塘镇) in Qingyuan.

As an interchange stop, the Huadu station offers transfer service with the Guangzhou North Railway Station of Guangzhou Metro Line 9 and also connects to Guangzhou East Ring Intercity line (广州东环城际).

[Photo/中国广州发布]

[Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

The entire journey will cost 34 yuan. Passengers can purchase tickets at 12306, China’s online railway ticket-booking platform, or takes the rail by using Guangzhou Metro Payment Code or Yang Cheng Tong (羊城通) that has completed a real-name authentication.

A branch of Guangzhou Library opens to the public at the Huadu station. [Photo/Guangdong Intercity]

[Photo/Qingyuan Daily]

With a length of 22.6 kilometers, the Guangzhou East Ring Intercity line also opens for traffic today, running through four stations—Huadu, Huachengjie (花城街), Huashanzhen (花山镇) and Baiyun Airport North.

The new route features two interchange stations: Huadu station with Guangzhou-Qingyuan Intercity rail and Guangzhou Metro Line 9; Baiyun Airport North station connecting with Metro Line 3 at the Airport North station.

With trains traveling at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour, the express line will enable passengers to travel between Huadu and the city's aviation hub in only 21 minutes. Payment with Guangzhou Metro Payment code, transportation cards Yang Cheng Tong and Ling Nan Tong are accepted.  

[Photo/中国广州发布]