(Yicai Global) July 31 -- China's Inner Mongolia has completed laying tracks for a high-speed railway linking the autonomous region's capital of Hohhot with Zhangjiakou in the country's northern Hebei province.

The 287-kilometer project marks the first construction of such a railway system in the region's cold-temperature zone, state-backed China News Service reported, adding that the line will enter service by the end of the year.

Starting in in 2014, the Zhangjiakou-Hohhot line will feature trains traveling at up to 250 kilometers per hour. An initial section from Hohhot East to Ulanqab entered service last August.

The line is a significant link between north, northwest and northeast China. The link will reduce journey time between Hohhot and Beijing to no more than three hours from a current minimum of nine hours, while also boosting the coal transport capacity from western areas of Inner Mongolia.

Editor: William Clegg