The Beijing-Zhengzhou high speed railway will go into operation on Wednesday, putting in place the final piece of the Beijing to Guangzhou line, making it the longest continuous high speed train journey in the world.

In response to questions about safety, operation and ticket prices of the trains, the ministry invited about 260 Chinese and overseas reporters to take a trial run on the train from Beijing to Zhengzhou on Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Railways (MOR), the Beijing to Zhengzhou section is strategically important because it completes the construction of the entire high speed railway network linking the north and south of the country from Harbin in Heilongjiang Province to Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

The train ran at 310 kilometers per hour at its maximum speed, but the speed after it officially goes into operation will be kept at 300 kilometers per hour.

The ticket price from Beijing to Guangzhou for the high speed trains at this speed has been set at 865 yuan ($138.70) for second class, 1,383 yuan for first class and 1,645 yuan for luxury class.

Over 30,000 tickets were sold in three days after sales began on December 20. Despite the massive ticket sale numbers, questions remain over whether the price was set too high.

"We should compare the price with airline tickets, not trains run at a slower speed. Whether the train tickets are too expensive or not should be decided by the consumers," Zhou Li, director of the science and technology department of the MOR, told the Global Times on the high speed train on the way to Zhengzhou, adding that future price adjustments will be decided after the train officially goes into operation.

However, airlines including Air China and China Southern Airlines have already responded to the competition by offering discounts of around 30 percent, Securities Times reported.

"I think the price of high speed trains will be very competitive compared with airlines, especially over short distances," Mao Bingren, vice manager of a company in charge of the construction of Beijing-Shijiazhuang high speed railways, told the Global Times.

"It takes only one hour from Beijing to Shijiazhuang and the cost is around 100 yuan. I believe passengers will prefer the high speed trains," Mao said.