The laying of track for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway began on Thursday and is expected to be completed at the end of May, according to the company building the line. 

The railway, linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou in North China's Hebei province, is a major transportation project for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

Adjustment of the track will be finished before the end of July and test runs will be finished by the end of next year, China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group said in news release on Thursday. 

After the 174-kilometer line goes into operation, the trip between the two cities will be shortened to 50 minutes, from three hours or more at present.

The group said the project is of great strategic significance for the Olympics and for promoting the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. 

On the same day, trial operations began on the Liaoning section of the Beijing-Shenyang high-speed railway in Northeast China's Liaoning province, the Shenyang railway bureau said. 

The railway, linking Beijing and Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, is about 700 km long, and trains will run at speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour. The line will cut travel time between Beijing and Shenyang by two hours to two hour and 30 minutes, the bureau said. 

The Xinmin-Tongliao high-speed line, running from Xinmin in Shenyang to Tongliao in Inner Mongolia, also began test runs on Thursday, it said.