The Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway, the world's first high-speed railway operated at high latitudes and low temperatures, has now been in service for eight years.

The 921-kilometer line linking Harbin, the capital of China's northernmost province of Heilongjiang, and the port city of Dalian, in Liaoning province, travels through the three provinces in Northeast China – where temperatures drop to as low as -40 C in winter and hit highs of 35 C in summer.

After years of independent exploration and innovation, China Railway Bureau has fully mastered the operation and maintenance technology of a high-latitude high-speed railway.

Since the line opened on Dec 1, 2012, more than 250,000 trains have run on its tracks, handling a total of 97.42 million passengers.

Over the past eight years, it has withstood snowstorms and extreme cold and proven safe and reliable.

The high-speed link reduces the travel time between Harbin and Dalian to four hours from the previous 10 hours.

Joining the Shenyang-Dandong and Dandong-Dalian high-speed railways in the South, the Harbin-Qiqihar, Harbin-Mudanjiang and Harbin-Jiamusi high-speed railways in the North, and the Qinhuangdao-Shenyang High-speed Railway in the middle, the Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway links cities across Northeast China.

Passengers can travel among the central cities in Northeast China, such as Shenyang, Changchun and Dalian, within two hours. The journey from the region’s major cities to Beijing takes no more than six hours.

The top speed of the bullet trains on the Harbin-Dalian line is 350 kilometers per hour.

The Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway is playing an essential role in boosting the development of transportation, the economy and trade in the region.