A map of the Hangzhou-Taizhou High-Speed Railway. [Photo/Shanghai Railway Administration]

The Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou inter-city railway was officially named the Hangzhou-Taizhou High-Speed Railway, local media reported on June 4.

Also confirmed were eight stations, including Hangzhoudong Railway Station, Shaoxingbei Railway Station, Taizhou Railway Station, and the Shengzhou-Xinchang Railway Station, which happens to be the first Chinese railway station with a name that features two county-level regions.

Connecting three major cities in Zhejiang, the Hangzhou-Taizhou High-Speed Railway is China's first high-speed railway controlled by private capital. It is one of the first eight public-private partnership funded high-speed railway projects, with the private sector having a holding status.

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 kilometers. It has a design speed of 350 km per hour.

The new rail line, which is viewed as 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 by the end of 2021.