BEIJING, June 29  -- Data released Sunday by China's railway authorities showed that train trips on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway had surpassed 220 million since its debut three years ago.

Daily average trips on the railway reached 178,000 in 2012 and 230,000 in 2013, respectively. The number climbed to 272,000 in the first half of this year, said the China Railway Corporation.

The 1,318-kilometer-long railway links the country's prosperous Pan-Bohai and Yangtze River Delta economic zones, cutting travel time between the two regions to less than five hours.

The railway is designed to handle maximum train speed of 350 kilometers per hour. High-speed trains on this railway made their debut on June 30, 2011.