New bullet trains to slash Beijing-Hangzhou time

China plans to use Fuxing bullet trains on the Beijing-Hangzhou high-speed railway next month, cutting more than 30 minutes off the current journey time, Qianjiang Evening News reported on Thursday.

The current fastest service between Beijing and Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, takes five hours and two minutes. But with Fuxing, or Rejuvenation, which is China’s domestically developed new generation of bullet trains with a design speed of 350 km/h, the fastest service will take only four hours and 18 minutes.

According to a new train service schedule that will take effect on April 10, there will be three pairs of Fuxing trains running between the two cities each day.

The newspaper reported that the ticket price will remain the same — a second-class seat will cost 538.5 yuan ($85) and a first-class seat will cost 907 yuan.

Zhang Yangfei contributed to this story.