The highly anticipated Beijing-Shanghai bullet train, with a speed of 218 mph, is expected to be put into use by 2012, said an official with the Railways Ministry, the Beijing News reported Friday.

"The high-speed train will not travel nonstop between Beijing and Shanghai. It will stop in Ji'nan, Hefei, Nanjing and Xuzhou," said Yang Shaoqing, deputy chief of the Ministry's Transportation Bureau.

The outsized railway project, extending 809 miles, broke ground in April 2008 and is expected to cost up to 220.9 billion yuan ($32.4 billion).