A high-speed rail line connecting Chaoyang Station in Beijing with Chifeng Station in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region officially opened to the public on Friday. Travel time is a mere 2 hours and 40 minutes — a big improvement over the 8 to 10 hours required before.

According to the railway, two pairs of trains will shuttle between the cities daily, with stops at Pingzhuang and Ningcheng stations in Inner Mongolia, Jianping Station in Liaoning province, and Pingquan North and Chengde South stations in Hebei province.