Tickets for high-speed trains from Beijing to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou went on sale after 10 am on Dec 20, 2012.

A passenger manages to buy the first high-speed train ticket from Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province, to Beijing at Zhengzhou East Railway Station on Dec 20, 2012. Tickets for high-speed trains from Beijing to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou went on sale on Thursday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Passengers can buy tickets for travel between Dec 26 and 31. The 2,298-km journey time between Beijing and Guangzhou will be cut by 12 hours, to eight hours.

According to the Beijing Railway Bureau, the total price for the G trains, to run at 300 kilometers per hour, will range from 865 yuan ($139) to 2,972 yuan, while the price for the D trains, to run at 250 km/h, will range from 712 yuan to 2,130 yuan.

China now has more than 7,500 kilometers of high-speed railway line in operation, ranking first in the world.

A passenger tries to buy a high-speed train ticket at an automatic ticket sales machine in Zhengzhou East Railway Station on Dec 20, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]