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The operating speed of the much-anticipated Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is likely to reach 350 km/h in the future, said a senior railway official.

Zhai Jianguo, chief accountant at the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway company, said on Wednesday that in 2007 the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's economic planner, set 300 km/h as the operating speed for the line's first year of service.

The project's feasibility report, approved by NDRC in 2007, said the high-speed railway's operating speed should be 350 km/h, but in the initial stage trains should run at 300 km/h and the railway should also operate 200 km/h trains.

Zhai explained that setting a one-year initial stage is a common practice, as the rail track must be tested over four seasons, including floods in summer and snowfalls in winter. At the end of that stage, the central government will check the line and decide whether to accept it.

"By then, we say a rail line starts formal operations," he said. "And we will reassess how many trains a day to run on the line as well as the speed for its formal operation, based on the one-year results and how well the public accepts the line.

"The possibility of running trains at 350 km/h on the line has not been excluded."

The initial stage's operating speed of 300 km/h, which is lower than expected, also has nothing to do with the quality of the project, Yang Qibing, deputy chief commander of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway construction headquarters, said on Wednesday.

Yang also said the railway's construction time had not been shortened and that the milestone project had not sacrificed quality to meet a tighter construction schedule. Originally, the railway was due to open in 2012.

The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway's infrastructure, including bridges and culverts, have a designed life span of 100 years, Yang added.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is also fluent in Korean.