A cargo train heading for the North Railway Station of Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong Province, from Hong Kong ran through the new Luohu Bridge at 6:52 a.m. Sunday, marking the official operation of the bridge linking the two places.

The new Luohu Bridge, 48 meters long, 20 meters wide and 224 tons in weight, was completed in a 10-month period since Oct. 20, 2003.

The Shenzhen city government and the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region jointly invested 23 million yuan (2.78 US dollars) into the bridge project. The two-way railway bridge, spanning the Shenzhen River, allows passage of trains with a speed of 120 km per hour.

A new pedestrian bridge will also be built, for people to more easily travel between Hong Kong and Shenzhen through Luohu Port.

While the new bridge takes shape in the area, the former 100-year-old Luohu bridge has been moved to the Hong Kong side for exhibition as a cultural relic. The century-old bridge has played a key role in connecting Shenzhen and Hong Kong since it was built.

In the early 1980s, the bridge observed Shenzhen residents returning from Hong Kong with various sized boxes of cheap electrical appliances, while 20 years later more Hong Kong residents are seen traveling via the bridge to shop and spend weekends in Shenzhen.