Commentary

China Watch

Forum Digests

Columnists

Letters

Cheaper trains should be kept

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-28 07:46

China should not stop slow and cheap trains while it develops high-end express railway lines, says an article in the Beijing News. The following is an excerpt:

As part of the central government's stimulus package, the national mid- and long-term railway plan will be readjusted. By 2020, China will have a national express passenger railway network, forming one-or-two-hour traffic circles between major cities and neighboring provincial cities. The express passenger network will connect all provincial cities and other medium- and large-sized cities.

This change of railway plan has been welcomed by many people. But some also hope that the railway authorities will not stop running low-priced trains while making great efforts to develop high-end passenger lines. They believe that the railway is comparatively an environmentally friendly and economical means of transport and that China's railway infrastructures are still relatively backward.

It is already a trend to step up the construction of high-end passenger railway lines and inter-city express lines in east China. But the slow and cheap trains should keep running. After all, during the annual Spring Festival peak traffic season, a large number of people with low income and rural migrant workers can only afford this type of transport.

(China Daily 11/28/2008 page10)