The high-speed railway line connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou in north China's Hebei Province started test runs on Tuesday, China Railway Beijing Group Co. Ltd. said.

The first train left Beijing North Railway Station on Tuesday morning, marking the beginning of the test runs of the railway line.

During the test runs, the trains run at 385 kph and bullet trains at 350 kph, meeting the requirement stating that the highest test train speed must be 10 percent higher than the designed speed.

Beijing-Zhangjiakou's high-speed rail line is 174 km long, including 70.5 km in Beijing and 103.5 km in Hebei, and a maximum designed speed of 350 kph.

The railway line is a major project for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Expected to be put into operation by the end of 2019, it will cut travel time between the two cities from more than two hours to one hour.