CHONGQING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A bullet train departed on Monday morning from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality for the national capital of Beijing via central China's Henan Province, marking the full operation of the Zhengzhou-Chongqing High-speed Railway.

With a total length of 1,068 km, the newly-introduced high-speed railway links Chongqing and Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, and travels through central China's Hubei Province as well.

Through the line, travel time from Chongqing to Zhengzhou can be shortened from around 8 hours to 4 hours 23 minutes at the top speed, while the shortest time from Chongqing to Beijing will be cut from more than 20 hours to less than 7 hours.

Two sections along the railway were opened in 2016 and 2019 respectively. The new section that opened on Monday links Hubei's Xiangyang and Chongqing's Wanzhou, which started construction in December 2015. With a top speed of 350 km per hour, the 434-km section consists of 91 bridges and 57 tunnels, and 10 stations.

Launched as a new channel connecting southwestern China, central China, and north China, the whole railway is expected to boost the economic and people-to-people exchanges among the regions and promote the development of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, Yangtze River Economic Belt, cities in central China, and other development strategies.