December 25 saw the opening of two lines. The 293km Harbin – Mudanjiang line serves Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province, adding 11 stations to the high-speed network. The 250km/h line cuts the journey time between the two cities from more than four hours to 1h 28min. An extension across the China-Russia border to Vladivostok is proposed.
The 265km Huangshan – Hangzhou line connects southern Anhui province with the cities of the Yangtze River Delta. Construction began on the Yuan 35bn ($US 5bn) project in June 2014 and the nine-station 250km/h railway reduces the Huangshan – Hangzhou journey time from three-and-a-half to one-and-a-half-hours. Initially 11 train pairs a day are operating on the line, increasing to 33 a day from January 5.
The 308km Jinan – Qingdao high-speed line opened on December 26. The 350km/h line reduces the journey time to 1h 40min, compared with 2h 20min on 250km/h Jinan – Qingdao Passenger Railway, which opened in 2008.

The opening of the 506km Chengde - Shenyang high-speed line on December 29 reduced the journey time between the two cities to 2h 30min. The line is designed for 350km/h operation, although trains are currently limited to 300km/h.
China Railway Corporation also opened three conventional mixed-traffic lines between December 26 and December 29:

Yancheng – Qingdao (429km)
Huaihua – Hengyang (318km)
Tongren – Yuping (47km)

Chengdu - Ya’an (140km)

Nanping - Longyan (248km)


All five lines are designed for 200km/h operation.

Another new line in the west
China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, approved the construction of a 292km high-speed line linking Xi’an with Yan’an in the western provinnce of Shaanxi at the end of December.
The 350km/h line will serve 11 stations. A budget of Yuan 55.2bn has been set for the project, which is expected to take four-and-a-half years to complete.