Self-driving trains for the subway line connecting downtown Beijing with its new international airport started trial runs on Saturday, according to local authorities.

Stretching 41.4 kilometers, the new line supports the autopilot system and can run at a speed of 160 km/h, with as many as 448 passengers, according to Beijing Major Projects Construction Headquarters Office.

It runs through Daxing and Fengtai, two districts in the southern part of Beijing, and will take only 19 minutes to get from the Caoqiao Station in Beijing's south 3rd Ring Road to the new airport after it starts operation by the end of September.

The line is part of an integrated transport network that will combine subways, expressways, intercity rail and high-speed rail with the airport at the center.

Beijing Daxing International Airport, located 46 kilometers south of downtown Beijing, is designed to take pressure off the overcrowded Beijing Capital International Airport in the northeastern suburbs. It sits at the junction of Beijing's Daxing District and Langfang, a city in neighboring Hebei Province.

(Cover: The self-driving train for the subway line linking downtown Beijing with Beijing Daxing International Airport, January 29, 2019. /VCG Photo)