Rail passengers left standing angry at lack of refund

High-speed rail passengers who were forced to stand for up to three hours after a malfunction affected services in northern China over the National Day holiday have received an apology from the rail operator, but no refund.

Second-class ticket holders had to crowd the aisles and corridors on two services from Handan to Qinhuangdao, in Hebei province, and one from Handan to Tianjin last week due to the number of cars being halved.

Rail operator China Railway Beijing Group, which covers the region including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, said in a statement on Sina Weibo on Saturday that the situation was caused by malfunctions in two engines on Thursday, which meant the number of cars had to be cut from 16 to eight on three services.