No matter by air or by train, travellers benefit By Wang Ying (China Daily) Updated: 2004-04-19 09:34
With the Labour Day holiday week approaching, travellers are gearing up for
holiday trips.
And many will benefit from a move across the nation to accelerate the
country's railway networks.
Others will be grateful for the postponement of an expected increase in air
ticket prices.
The increase that was supposed to take place from April 20 to May 10, will
now be put off for a still undetermined time, officials said. The rise will
coincide with rising aviation fuel prices. .
The train acceleration is welcome news to travelers, some of whom spend days
traveling across the nation for family reunion.
The newly launched No Z9 non-stop passenger train from Beijing to Hangzhou
roared out of Beijing Railway Station at 6:53 pm on Saturday, marking the
beginning of the country's fifth rapid railway network. It is part of its
campaign to increase the nation's average speed for passenger trains to 65.7
kilometres per hour, up 4.3 kilometres per hour, with top speeds reaching as
much as 200 kilometres per hour in some sections of track, Ministry of Railways
officials said.
Passengers will benefit greatly from the speed acceleration plan, since
ticket prices will remain unchanged while travelling times will be lessened and
the travelling atmosphere will be improved.
For example, the operating time of the No K356 train connecting Guangzhou and
Chongqing will be shortened by more than 12 hours.
To upgrade speed and service quality, the nation launched 19 sets of non-stop
express trains over the weekend. The new express trains, to be marked with Z on
the schedule, will run from their departure stations to their final destinations
without stopping en route..
It has been reported that some air carriers will initiate a price hike on
popular routes by 10 to 25 per cent beginning April 20. And after May 10,
airfares will be raised as much as 25 per cent.
Tourism is closely affected by air ticket pricing since - according to
industry insiders - airline costs account for half of the costs of domestic
travel business.
The Labour Day holidays traditionally mean golden business
opportunities for travel agencies.
Air China will add 992 extra charter flights during the seven-day Labour Day
holiday.
International charter flights will mainly be focused on routes to the
Maldives, Singapore, Phuket in Thailand, and Pinang in Malaysia. Domestic
charter flights will cover cities such as Hangzhou, Qingdao, Yantai, Haikou,
Sanya and Guilin.
