Bullet train let down by service

With more than 16,000 kilometers of high-speed rail network so far, China has 60 percent of the world's total. Based on such a miracle, achieved within about ten years, Premier Li Keqiang has been going all-out to sell the country's high-speed railway capabilities around the world during his overseas trips.

Having worked in Brussels for several years, I have not had a chance to take a high-speed train in China, until I took a train from Beijing to Zhengzhou in Henan province during the recent Spring Festival to visit my relatives. Frankly, this was both a happy and annoying journey.

Shortly after I landed in Beijing airport on the early morning of the sixth day of Lunar New Year, I took a taxi to Beijing West Train Station, where I could only buy a privileged guest ticket on the self-service machine, which cost two times more than a second class ticket.