Tickets for the new Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway went on sale for the first time on Thursday.

Tickets were available online, by telephone, in railway stations and through travel agencies.

People crowd a ticket office at the Beijing West Railway Station on Thursday. KUANG LINHUA / CHINA DAILY

According to the Ministry of Railways, the high-speed railway will start operation on Wednesday.

Trains currently take more than 20 hours to cover the 2,298 km between Beijing and Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province. The high-speed train will reduce the travel time to less than eight hours.

A resident of Zhengzhou,capital of Henan province, displays a ticket for the Beijing-Guangzhou highspeed railway he bought on Thursday. XIANG MINGCHAO / CHINA DAILY

Traveling at speeds of up to 300 km per hour, the service will run through Shijiazhuang in Hebei province and Wuhan in Hubei province.

Second-class seats, the cheapest of the four sections, between Beijing and Guangzhou cost 865 yuan ($140).

Beijing West Railway Station opened two windows on Thursday to sell tickets for the new high-speed route.

In Zhengzhou, Henan province, about 2,000 tickets were sold on Thursday, according to the city's railway bureau.

Passengers were generally happy with the price of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway.

Jin Yonghong, 40, who often travels from Zhengzhou to cities in South China, said he felt the price was reasonable, but he added that he will only take the high-speed train in an emergency.

Xie Yufeng, 27, who works at a Beijing magazine and travels home to Changsha for holidays, said the high-speed train gives passengers more choices, especially businesspeople.