Three high-speed railways passing through central China's Henan Province, east China's Anhui Province and central China's Hubei Province, started operation simultaneously on December 1.

The three high-speed railways are the 389 km Zhengzhou-Xiangyang section of the Zhengzhou-Chongqing line, the 281 km Zhengzhou-Fuyang line, and the 378 km Shangqiu-Hefei section of the Beijing-Hong Kong line.

The country's railway network will top 139,000 km by the end of this year, with 35,000 km being high-speed railways, the longest in the world.