A new high-speed rail service linking Hong Kong with Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province, officially launched on Sunday.
The inaugural train, G885, departed from Wuhan Station at around 16:00, embarking on a four-hour and 33-minute journey that would take it through stations in Hunan and Guangdong provinces before reaching Hong Kong's West Kowloon Terminal.
Passenger Wei Junyi expressed excitement about the new route.
"I'm here to experience our first train. I think it's very convenient and very quick to go directly to Hong Kong," she said.
With nearly 1,200 seats per train, the new high-speed rail link is poised to facilitate the flow of people and economic activities between the central region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Hong Kong entered the high-speed rail era in 2018, when the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link opened.
China aims to expand the length of its operational high-speed rail tracks to about 60,000 kilometers by 2030, up from 48,000 kilometers at the end of 2024, data from the country's railway operator shows.
New high-speed rail linking Hong Kong with Wuhan begins service
Russia on Thursday announced that its forces controlled one more settlement, while the Ukrainian side reported conducting high-precision strikes on Russian command posts.
According to a statement released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Thursday, Russian troops seized control of one more settlement in the Donetsk region. The ministry also claimed that its forces had successfully repelled Ukrainian attacks and launched offensives in the directions of Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.
The statement also noted that Russian air defense systems had intercepted 67 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles. Besides, strikes were carried out by the Russian side on Ukrainian drone storage facilities and ammunition depots.
On the same day, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that its forces had engaged in 109 battles on the frontline over the past 24 hours. Ukrainian forces claimed to have struck Russian personnel and equipment concentrations, command posts, and electronic warfare base stations.
The Ukrainian side also said that its air force conducted high-precision strikes on a Russian command post in the Kherson region and another command post in the Kursk region.
Russia claims control of one more settlement, Ukraine says Russian command posts raided
