BEIJING, Dec. 25 -- An upgraded locomotive named after late Chinese leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) started carrying passengers on the line between Beijing to his home province of Hunan.

The T1 train pulled by the locomotive bearing the portrait of Mao Zedong, left Beijing Railway Station on Thursday afternoon and is scheduled to arrive in Changsha, capital of Hunan on Friday morning.

Friday is the 121st anniversary of Mao's birth.

It is the fifth time the "Mao Zedong" has been upgraded. The new locomotive has a maximum speed of 160 km per hour.

An steam locomotive was named after Mao on Oct. 30, 1946 in Harbin City in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. The locomotive traveled southward with the People's Liberation Army in 1949.

In 1978, steam was replaced by diesel at the Dalian Locomotive Plant. The new model is electric and belongs to the Beijing Railway Bureau

The "Mao Zedong" boasts safe operations for 9.63 million kilometers over the past 68 years. It is a witness of the rapid development of China's railway sector.