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Better services will get more people on rails
By Zhen Xiaoyan (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-27 09:55 China launched its sixth railway speed upgrade on April 18. Trains running on artery lines now travel at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour. High-speed CRH trains are traveling between major cities at even higher speeds. But there are still some problems that should be tackled.
The railway sector should improve its overall competitiveness. After this sixth speedup, there will be 410 inter-city high-speed trains running nationwide. Such an adjustment shows that the sixth upgrade has concentrated on short-distance transportation, aiming to win over some travelers from road transportation. This is a disputable orientation. Speed upgrades are a major means for the railway service to compete with road and air transport. The sector has already won back some passengers and turned a profit by speeding up. But the strategy to win short-distance passengers does not fit the characteristics of railway transportation, Chinese traveling trends, or the development of a comprehensive transportation network. The sixth railway speed upgrade will not put any pressure on air transportation. The travel times between Beijing and some major cities have now been shortened by about two hours. But travel times by air are normally within two hours. Plane tickets can now be as cheap as 400 yuan, while a non-stop train ticket from Beijing to Shanghai is 499 yuan. It is hardly possible for the railways to win passengers back from air transport. Medium and long-distance traveling has increased in China in recent years. From 1985 to 2005, the number of journeys involving distances of 1,000 kilometers or more increased 7.7 percent annually. Traveling distances are getting longer and more people are opting to travel by rail. The railway sector should take advantage of this change because it is best suited to journeys of 500-1,000 kilometers. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
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