BEIJING, Dec. 13 -- A new high-speed rail section in central China will begin operations on Dec. 16, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC) Saturday.

The section, 420 kilometers long, will shorten the travel time between the cities of Changsha and Huaihua in central China's Hunan Province from over nine hours to an hour and a half, the CRC said.

The section is part of the high-speed rail connecting Shanghai and southwest China's Kunming, according to the corporation.

With nine stations and a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, construction on the section was launched about four years ago and a test run kicked off last month.

The CRC said that the section, along with another one between Changsha and Nanchang City in Jiangxi Province, will help improve passenger railway transport and boost regional economic growth.