The first high speed train developed by China, able to run at a speed of 350 km/h, left the production line on Friday, April 11.

The last train of the series of Clouded Railway High-speed, was built in Tangshan, a city of northern China, by Clouded Northern Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry Corp.

557 passengers can embark on this eight-coach train. According to the manufacturer, three trains of this type will be put in operation on the new 120km line Beijing-Tianjin before the opening of the Olympic Games in August. A total of 57 new trains will be put in operation between now and the end of 2009.

The train was developed on the basis of the Siemens ICE 3. The manufacturer revealed that he had started to cooperate with the supplier of the customer support in 2005 and then launched its own platform, based on the most advanced technology in the world.

China revealed its first 300 km/h high speed train last December, thus ranking itself as the fourth country - after France, Germany and Japan -  able to produce this type of train, according to the ministry of the Railroads.

A train able to reach a speed of 300km/h will also be operational on the Beijing-Tianjin line before the Olympic Games, reducing the journey time from currently 80 minutes to half an hour.