Commuters traveling between Beijing and Tianjin will be able to take swift China-produced passenger trains next year running at speeds up to 350 kilometers per hour, the manufacturer said on Wednesday.

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Design of the high-speed train has been completed and the first train will roll off the production line at the end of 2007, according to a spokesman at Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co Ltd based in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

The eight-car trains, which can seat around 600 passengers, will operate on the 115-km-long Beijing-Tianjin route before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Travel between the two cities will be reduced from the current 70 minutes to less than 30 minutes.

The same trains will also run on the Beijing-Shanghai and Wuhan-Guangzhou lines.

Sifang Locomotive, a subsidiary of China Southern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation, will deliver 10 such trains to the Ministry of Railways in the first half of next year, said the company.

China launched its sixth train speed boost on April 18 bringing the country more firmly into the era of high-speed train travel. Trains run on the Beijing-Harbin, Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Guangzhou routes at speeds up to 250 kilometers per hour.

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