The 297km line will follow a similar route to the existing line, connecting Fuzhou, Fuqing, Putian, Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou. Major engineering works will start at the end of this year and full-scale construction will get underway next year. The line is expected to be completed by 2019, and will cut the journey time from Fuzhou to Xiamen by half to 1 hour.
The existing Fuzhou - Xiamen high-speed line is part of the Hangzhou - Ningbo - Wenzhou - Fuzhou - Xiamen - Shenzhen line, and has ballasted track as it is designed for mixed traffic operation. When the line opened, passenger trains were operated at 250km/h, but this was reduced to 200km/h after the major accident at Wenzhou on July 23 2011.
