The longest high-speed train in the world went into service yesterday on the Shanghai-Beijing rail line, just ahead of the summer travel rush.

The 16-carriage Fuxing high-speed train departed Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station at 9am yesterday. At 415 meters long, and offering 1,193 seats, the train is twice as long as the line’s normal 8-carriage trains.

According to Shanghai Railway Station, three extended trains will service the G2/G3, G10/G11 and G118/G149 routes between Shanghai and Beijing. The maximum speed of the trains is 350 kilometers/hour, and the journey time between the two cities is listed at 4 hours and 28 minutes.

The extended trains also have more first-class and business-class seats than their shorter counterparts.

Since its debut last June, Fuxing have carried more than 2.8 million people.

Over the past year, the average occupancy rate of the Fuxing bullet trains on the Beijing-Shanghai line reached 94 percent, 17.5 percentage points more than other models running on similar routes, according to China Railway Corporation.

In related news, six more high-speed trains will connect Shanghai with destinations in Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi and Shanxi provinces.

According to Wu Peng, deputy head of Shanghai Railway Station, about 21.5 million people will pass through Shanghai’s three major railway stations during the summer travel rush, which began yesterday and ends on August 31.

“The peak will come in July, by which time we will use another 20 more trains to facilitate passengers,” Wu explained.