A new railway line will cut the travel time between the southwestern municipality of Chongqing and Guiyang, Guizhou province, national railway operator China Railway Corp said on Thursday.

The 347-kilometer railway will start operation on Jan 25, ahead of this year's Spring Festival travel rush, and will run at 200 km per hour.

Some 132 train services will be arranged initially.

The new railway connects the Lanzhou-Chongqing line and the Guiyang-Guangzhou high-speed railway.

It will cut travel time between Chongqing and Guiyang to 2 hours from 9 hours, between Chongqing and Guangzhou to 7 hours from 12 hours, and between Chongqing and Kunming to 4 hours 40 minutes from 19 hours.

"It is part of an important railway network linking China's northwestern, southwestern and southern areas," CRC said in a statement.

"The new railway greatly reduces the travel time between Chongqing and Guiyang and improves regional transport structure... boosting people-to-people exchanges and trade between southwestern, northwestern and the Pearl River Delta areas. It is important to build the south gateway from Chongqing and Chengdu, and relieve pressure during the Spring Festival travel rush," it said.

Chongqing and Sichuan province are major sources of migrant workers, and Guangzhou, the pioneer city for China's economic reform since 1978, attracts ambitious migrants from all over the country.

During the Spring Festival, many migrant workers will return home for family reunions.

The rail lines from Guangzhou to Chongqing and Sichuan province are always busy during the travel rush, and tickets are in great demand.

The new railway will offer thousands of migrant workers in Guangzhou an alternative route.

The Spring Festival falls on Feb 16 this year. The 40-day travel rush will begin on Feb 1 and end on March 12.

Train trips are expected to top 389 million during the period, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner.

About 2.98 billion trips are expected to be made during the travel rush, the commission said.