HAIKOU, Dec. 30 -- A new stretch of high-speed railway (HSR) in Southern China's Hainan Province began operation on Wednesday, making it the world's first HSR to circle an island.

A bullet train set off from Haikou, the capital of the island province, at 9:40 a.m., to traverse the 345-km western track of the loop line, which links six counties to join the eastern track in Sanya City, a beach resort on the island's southern coast.

The western line has 16 stations. The first train finished the entire journey at 1:55 p.m..

The 308-km eastern part was put into operation at the end of 2010, linking Haikou to Sanya, with a designed speed of up to 250 km per hour. It passes Boao, a scenic town that is the site of the annual Boao Forum for Asia.

Construction of the western track began in September 2013 and cost 27 billion yuan (4.23 billion U.S. dollars).

With a land area of 35,400 square km, Hainan is slightly larger than Belgium. A popular destination for beach lovers, it is expected to receive 47 million visitors this year.

Hou Zhenmei and her husband were among the passengers on the first train. She told Xinhua that their daughter bought the last two tickets for the journey.

"It is exciting," she said. "We like to see the sea."

Xia Feng, assistant to the president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, believes that the new line could boost tourism in the western part of the island.

Haikou and Sanya attract more than 60 percent of the island's tourists.

"The new line will offer travellers more choices, giving them easier access to the western part, which will boost development there," Xia said.

Infrastructure in the west was lagged behind the rest of the island. "There is a disparity between house prices in the east and those in the west," he continued. "So the line will create opportunities for real estate developers."

Wang Sheng, chief of Hainan Provincial Office of Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs, noted that the eastern line had transported many dignitaries to the Boao Forum for Asia. "The new line will take them to more parts of the island," he said.

According to state-owned China Railway Corp., there is 19,000 kilometers of HSR in China, the longest in the world.

In south China's Guangdong province, Futian railway station, believed to be the largest underground railway station in Asia, also opened on Wednesday.

The station, roughly the size of 21 football pitches and able to accommodate 3,000 passengers, is a key hub linking Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The travel time for high speed trains from Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Hong Kong have been shortened to 30 minutes and 15 minutes respectively.