It will take just 45 minutes to travel between Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, and Hong Kong when a high-speed railway service starts in 2017, the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Wang Mengshu, deputy chief engineer of China Railway Tunnel Group Co Ltd, said construction of the line between Shenzhen and Hong Kong is underway while the section from Guangzhou to Shenzhen is already complete.

"Affected by local complicated and varied topography, the high-speed railway track has been designed to reach about 200 kilometers an hour, instead of 350 km per hour," Wang said.

The line that begins at Guangzhou Southern Railway Station in Panyu district will help expand economic ties between Hong Kong and the mainland.

The station has four high-speed services linking the southern metropolis with major mainland cities.

The city already has deep water ports and Baiyun International Airport as well as an advanced expressway network linking the city with other provinces, regions and municipalities.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong line will eventually be part of a 5,700-kilometer network connecting Shanghai, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and Haikou in eastern and southern coastal China, Wang said.