A bullet train service between Hohhot in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region and Jinan in East China's Shandong province was officially launched on Feb 27, marking the autonomous region's first bullet trains to be bound for East China, according to Inner Mongolia Daily.

The new service has further strengthened ties between Inner Mongolia and the more economically developed coastal areas.

The newly-launched trains run for a total distance of 1,169 kilometers through Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei and Shandong, connecting eight cities including Hohhot, Ulaanqab, Datong, Taiyuan, Shijiazhuang, Hengshui, Dezhou, and Jinan.

The fastest one-way train takes 9 hours and 27 minutes, which is about 7 hours quicker than the original normal-speed train.