A new high-speed railway began operation Sunday in Guangdong Province, without impacting the lives of tens of thousands of birds near the route.

To avoid bothering the birds, a vaulted shield was set up to cover a 2,036-meter section near the habitat, which consists of several islets covered by banyan trees.

Using sound absorption and insulation materials, the shield cost 187 million yuan (28.3 million U.S. dollars).

Tests showed that when a train passed at a speed of 200 km per hour, the sound monitored at the core area of the birds' habitat increased by 0.2 decibels, which means that people and birds barely heard the noise.

The enclosed shield is the first of its kind and the developer is patenting the technology.