Workers on Monday began laying tracks along China's first high-speed railway controlled by private capital in east China's Zhejiang Province.

Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou railway, 226.9 kilometers long and designed for a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour, is one of the country's first eight pilot public-private partnership funded high-speed railway projects, with the private sector having a holding status.

The investment totals 44.9 billion yuan ($7 billion), with private capital led by Fosun Group holding 51 percent of the shares.

As an intra-provincial route connecting Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Taizhou, the railway is expected to be completed in 2021 and will operate for 30 years before transferring it to Zhejiang provincial government or the government designated organization.

The new rail line, an important project to help boost the regional integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, is expected to halve the travel time between Hangzhou and Taizhou to about one hour.