HARBIN, Sept. 6 -- Track laying of the 343 km Harbin-Jiamusi high-speed railway, China's longest high-speed railway in a high latitude area, has been finished, according to China Railway on Wednesday.

According to the company, the high-speed railway is planned to open in June 2018.

Running at 200 kilometers per hour, the railway will cut travel time between Harbin, capital of northeast Heilongjiang Province, and Jiamusi in the same province to 1.5 hours from 7 hours.

The railway has 14 stops, including Binxi, Fangzheng, Demoli and Yilan.

The line is expected to increase freight and passenger capacity between cities along the route and facilitate China's trade with Russia, as Jiamusi is near the border.

The high latitude railway runs through four tunnels and on 120 bridges, according to Yuan Zhengguo, director of the railway's engineering headquarters.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail network, about 22,000 kilometers at the end of last year, about 60 percent of the world's total.