‘China’s expensive high-speed rail network to increase pressure on road transportation’
January 12th, 2011 - 4:22 pm ICT by ANIBeijing, Jan 12 (ANI): Chinese Ministry of Transport spokesman He Jianzhong has said that the country’s surge in high-speed rail network would increase the pressure on the country’s roads in the coming holiday travel peak period and has already forced airlines to quit some short-distance routes.
Some 5,149 km of high-speed track were put into service last year, making the network stretch to 8,358 km, the world’s longest, the Ministry of Railways said.
China Daily quoted Jianzhong as saying that the opening of more fast train services has led to fewer regular trains being available for budget-conscious passengers in the upcoming Spring Festival holiday period.
Citing an example of a luxury sleeper service that was added between Shanghai and Chengdu with tickets costing up to 2,330 Yuan (352 dollars), Jianzhong said that many travellers cannot afford the tickets, causing a waste of transport capacity.
According to a report in the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post on Tuesday, hundreds of soft berths on bullet trains between Chengdu and Shanghai will be vacant, although cheaper tickets have sold out.
Meanwhile, Wang Changshun, Deputy Head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China said that the fast trains have forced some airlines to cancel short-distance flights along high-speed rail lines.
Jianzhong further said this year the situation had pushed many passengers, who used to ride home by slow trains because of the cheap tickets, to long-distance buses, adding that this extra traffic will add pressure to the road transport system during the travel peak season.
The Ministry of Transport estimated that a record high of 2.6 billion bus passenger trips will be made during the peak time between January 19 and February 27, an increase of 11.6 percent on the same period last year.
The transport sector plans to increase capacity to handle the extra traffic. A total of 840,000 buses, including 70,000 added this year, will hit the road during the travel peak, making 2.4 million road trips a day, he added. (ANI)
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Tags: bullet trains, bus passenger, cheap tickets, cheaper tickets, china daily, chinese ministry, civil aviation administration, deputy head, high speed rail, ministry of transport, oriental morning, passenger trips, peak period, peak time, road transportation, slow trains, speed track, spring festival, train services, transport capacity