With a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour, passengers aboard the newly opened Urumqi-Hami route could cut their travel time between the two Chinese cities to just three hours from the old six hours. The 530-kilometre route is the initial stage of the ambitious 1,775-kilometre railway system linking the capital cities of Xianjing and Gansu Provinces.

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The Sunday launch of the brand new high-speed train system in Xianjing is part of Beijing's effort to give development in rural areas, a bigger push and move residents closer to the rest of the Asian giant. According to Xinhua, the entire length of the passenger train system is on schedule to begin full run by the end of 2014.

Once operational, it would reduce travel time on the entire 1,775 stretch to eight hours from the current 12 hours. Travel between Urumqi and Beijing would also be shortened to just 20 minutes from 40 minutes.

The project costs $24 billion. With 31 stations, it would be the world's longest high-speed railway line, noted Business Standard.

The provision of vital infrastructure facilities aims to appease Xinjiang which is rich in natural resources and includes a minority Muslim Uighur community, numbering 11 million residents, who had suffered from ethnic violence. However, since the region is considered an important part of the national economic strategy, the province was given priority in the rail link.

Despite the growing threat of Islamist militants in various part of the globe, the government said in June that it was confident of guaranteeing the railway's security from bomb attack.

In April, a bomb exploded at Urumqi railway station in the Xinjiang capital city which took three lives and injured 79 people.

China is on an infrastructure binge, with Beijing committing $40 billion over the next few years to build new Silk Road maritime and land routes.

Tagshigh-speed rail, Silk Road