Tracks began to be laid on Monday for the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou inter-city railway, the first Chinese high-speed railway controlled by private capital.

With a total investment of nearly 44.9 billion yuan (about $6.95 billion), the rail line starts from Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, and passes through Shaoxing and Taizhou in the province, stretching 266.9 km. It has a design speed of 350 km/h.

It is one of the first eight public-private partnership (PPP) funded high-speed railway projects, with the private sector having a holding status.

The new rail line, an important project to help boost the regional integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, is expected to halve the travel time between Hangzhou and Taizhou to about one hour.