China's first cross-sea high-speed railway, the Fuzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou High-speed Railway which connects Fuzhou and Zhangzhou in East China's Fujian Province, passed static acceptance testing on Friday, creating conditions for the opening of the line within the year. 

The railway is a major high-speed project in the southeast coastal area and part of China's "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed railway network announced in 2016. 

Construction of the 277-kilometer-long railway started in September 2017 with its designed highest operating speed of 350 kilometers per hour. A total of eight stations will be set up along the railway line, which are Fuzhou South, Fuqing West, Putian, Quangang, Quanzhou East, Quanzhou South, Xiamen North and Zhangzhou.

The north end of the railway connects the planned Wenzhou-Fuzhou High-speed Railway, and its south end connects the planned Zhangzhou-Shanwei High-speed Railway.

According to the railway authorities, the static acceptance testing is an important part of the completion of high-speed railways, and a first comprehensive "physical examination" of the engineering construction and system equipment of the railway. Railway departments will check to confirm that the project has been completed according to the design and the quality standards and that the system equipment is installed and debugged, the People's Daily reported. 

To ensure the smooth progress of the project, the railway departments have intervened in advance and set up several professional work groups to inspect the roadbed, bridges and culverts, tunnels, signals and other high-speed railway construction projects.

After the static acceptance testing is completed, the Fuzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou High-speed Railway is expected to enter the joint debugging and joint test stage in April and will be ready for operation within this year.

After the opening of the high-speed railway, the travel time from Fuzhou to Xiamen will be shortened to less than one hour, forming a "one-hour transportation circle." The cities of Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou will form a "half-hour transportation circle" and the southeast coastal cities will be connected to form a "golden tourism belt." Besides, the fastest travel by rail between Xiamen and Beijing will be shortened to nine hours from more than 11 hours.

Moreover, the railway is expected to further improve the southeast coastal rapid rail network and promote connectivity between the Maritime Silk Road and urban clusters in the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area, helping accelerate the rise of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and to spur the economic and social development of the region as a whole.