The Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, a 147-kilometer rail linking the two largest cities in the Pearl River Delta region, will join the national high-speed railway network thanks to the completion of the signal system upgrade between the section of Pinghu Railway Station and Shenzhen Railway Station.

In addition to connecting three regular railways including Beijing-Guangzhou rail and Guangzhou-Kowloon rail, the rail line will also provide connectivity with nine high-speed rails and intercity rails including the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Rail, Guangzhou-Shanwei High-speed Rail and Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Rail.

Train services on the Beijing-Guangzhou High-speed Rail, Guiyang-Guangzhou Special Passenger Line and Nanning-Guangzhou Railway will be able to extend to Shenzhen Railway Station in Luohu District.

The new system will pave the way for the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Rail and Guangzhou-Shantou High-speed Rail to be connected with the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, a release of Guangzhou Railway Group Corp. said Tuesday.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway, first built in 1911, is a railway linking Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen. It operates about 200 trains a day, the busiest railway in China.

The replacement of the signal system, equivalent to heart transplant surgery of a patient, was full of challenges and involved complicated technologies, according to Fang Shaofeng, the manager responsible for the renovation project. All the work had to be done at night so as not to interfere with daily train services.

After upgrading of the signal system, the transportation efficiency will be greatly improved — by 25 percent. The line will increase capacity to 250 trains a day.

After 2022, the line will mainly operate cross-line bullet trains, enabling the connectivity of high-speed railways in Guangdong Province.