A 658-km high-speed railway line linking Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province with the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu will begin operation on December 6, Chinese rail authorities said Sunday.

A bullet train passes through Mianyang, Sichuan province, during a trial run on Tuesday. The Xi'an-Chengdu High-Speed Railway is expected to formally open next week. CAO NING/FOR CHINA DAILY

Boasting a designated speed of 250 kph, the railway line will cut the current travel time between the two cities by about 7 hours to just 3 hours and 27 minutes.

Nineteen trains are scheduled to run in each direction between Xi'an and Chengdu daily during the initial phase.

As the country's first high-speed railway to run through the Qinling Mountains, the route passes through the habitats of giant pandas, golden monkeys, and crested ibis.

Various measures have been taken to protect these endangered species by creating "an environmentally-friendly" line, said an official from China Railway Corporation.

The railway will also provide full 4G network coverage.

As 55 percent of the route's total length is made up of tunnels, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom have run signal cables throughout the tunnels to ensure travelers have mobile signal and internet access.

The new line integrates China's Qingling Mountains into the rapidly developing China National "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" high-speed railway network, and it is aimed at boosting regional economic development, said the official.