TAIYUAN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Workers Friday started to lay the tracks for the Datong-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway line.

The railway line starts from the city of Datong in Shanxi Province and ends in Hebei Province's Zhangjiakou city, co-host of the 2022 Winter Olympics.

The new railway line is an important part of the high-speed railway network to be built during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

Construction of the 140-km line was launched in November 2015.

With trains running at 250 kph, travel time between Datong and Zhangjiakou will be 40 minutes, while that between Datong and Beijing will be cut from six hours to just 100 minutes.

The railway is scheduled to begin operation by the end of 2019.