China's own high-speed train due by year-end

China's first domestically developed high-speed train, capable of reaching 300 kilometres (190 miles) per hour, will roll off production lines by the end of the year, state media reported Monday.

The train can seat around 600 passengers and will run on the 115-kilometre-long Beijing-Tianjin route prior to the Beijing Olympics in August next year, the Xinhua news agency said.

It will cut travel time between the two cities to around 30 minutes from the current 70 minutes, the report said.

The first batch of 10 such trains, with a speed equivalent to the Japanese bullet train, will be delivered in the first half of 2008, the report added, citing manufacturer Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Co. Ltd.

Currently the world's fastest train is French national railway's TGV, which travels at a speed of 320 kilometres per hour.

But China's planned Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev railway is set to break this record with trains running at 450 kilometres an hour, Xinhua said.