China, home to the world's largest high-speed rail network with the highest level of modernization, has expanded its total operational mileage beyond 50,000 kilometers with the launch of a new high-speed line on Friday.

A "Fuxing" bullet train departed Friday morning from Yan'an City, a sacred revolutionary heartland in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, for the provincial capital Xi'an, inaugurating the new route.

The Xi'an-Yan'an high-speed railway, which is 299 kilometers long, was designed to handle speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour and reduce travel time between the two cities to around an hour.

China's high-speed rail journey began in 2008 with the commencement of the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway. Since then, its network has seen phenomenal growth, with operating mileage surpassing the combined total of all other countries in the world. It also operates the world's fastest commercial high-speed rail services.

According to data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., the national railway operator, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China constructed and put into operation 12,000 kilometers of high-speed railways.

Currently, high-speed rail services are accessible in 97 percent of Chinese cities with populations exceeding 500,000.