China is planning to develop a new Fuxing bullet train that can reach 250 kilometers per hour by the end of this year.

The technical plan for the new train was recently approved by a review committee, and technicians can now move on to the design and trial manufacturing stages, China Railway Corp, the train's operator, said on Wednesday via its official WeChat account.

The current maximum speed of China's Fuxing bullet trains is 350 km/h, and was recorded when the trains began service between Beijing and Shanghai in September 2017. This shortened the travel time between the two cities to 4.5 hours from 5.5 previously.

Developing bullet trains with varying speeds will meet different people's travel needs and help build the brand image of Chinese railways, the company said.

China currently has the world's longest high-speed rail network, about a third of which has been designed to run at a top speed of 350 km/h.

The country is also developing new bullet trains with a speed up to 400 km/h, and is also researching the next generation maglev train with a top speed of 600 km/h.