From June 15th
A number of high-speed rail lines will be adjusted
The cap fare is higher
Discounted fares are lower
Related topics rushed to the hot search.
Recently, the official website of Railway 12306 issued four price adjustment announcements. The announcement pointed out that in order to further improve the operation quality of high-speed rail and meet the different travel needs of passengers, it was decided that from June 15, 2024, the announced fares of EMU trains with a speed of 300 kilometers per hour and above running on the Wuhan-Guangzhou section of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway, the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway, and the Hangzhou-Ningbo section of the Hangzhou-Shenzhen railway will be optimized and adjusted.
Four high-speed rail bullet train lines will start price adjustment
Prices go up and down
According to the reporter's comparison, on the whole, the adjusted part of the fare caps (i.e., "published fares") of the four routes have increased compared with the current fares.
- Taking the Hangzhou-Ningbo section of the Hangzhou-Shenzhen Railway as an example, the second-class ticket price from Hangzhou East Railway Station to Ningbo Station will be 85 yuan from June 15, an increase of about 19.72% compared with the current announced ticket price of 71 yuan.
Hangzhou-Ningbo section of Hangzhou-Shenzhen Railway fare list
- Taking the Hangzhou-long section of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway as an example, the second-class ticket price from Hangzhou East Railway Station to Changsha South Railway Station will be 485 yuan from June 15, an increase of about 19.75% compared with the current announced ticket price of 405 yuan.
Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway Hangzhou-long section fare table
- Taking the Shanghai-Hangzhou section of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway as an example, the second-class ticket price from Shanghai Hongqiao Station to Hangzhou East Railway Station will be 87 yuan from June 15, an increase of about 19.18% compared with the current published ticket price of 73 yuan.
Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway Shanghai-Hangzhou section fare list
- Taking the Wuguang section of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway as an example, the second-class ticket price from Wuhan Station to Guangzhou South Railway Station will be 553 yuan from June 15, an increase of about 19.31% compared with the current announced ticket price of 463.5 yuan. The second-class ticket price from Changsha South Railway Station to Guangzhou South Railway Station will be 377 yuan from June 15, an increase of 20.06% compared with the current announced ticket price of 314 yuan.
Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway Wuguang section of the fare list
At the same time, the announcement also cites a number of examples of minimum fare reductions.
According to the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway Passenger Line Co., Ltd. issued by the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway Passenger Line Co., Ltd., the minimum ticket price for the second-class seat from Wuhan Station to Guangzhou South Railway Station is 304 yuan, which is about 34% lower than the current fare. According to the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway Passenger Line Co., Ltd. issued by the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway Passenger Line Co., Ltd., the minimum fare for a second-class seat from Shanghai Hongqiao Station to Hangzhou East Railway Station is 48 yuan, which is about 34% lower than the current fare. According to the Shanghai-Kunming Railway Passenger Line Zhejiang Co., Ltd., Shanghai-Kunming Railway Passenger Line Jiangxi Co., Ltd., and Shanghai-Kunming Railway Passenger Line Hunan Co., Ltd. issued the Hangzhou-Changzhou price adjustment announcement, such as Hangzhou East Railway Station to Changsha South Railway Station, the lowest second-class ticket price is 267 yuan, about 34% lower than the current fare. According to the Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway Passenger Line Co., Ltd. issued by Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway Passenger Line Co., Ltd., the lowest ticket price for the second-class seat from Hangzhou East Railway Station to Ningbo Station is 47 yuan, which is about 34% lower than the current fare.
The above four announcements all pointed out that the implementation of fares between stations will be based on the upper limit of the published fare, with 5.5% off as the lower limit, and a multi-grade and flexible discount floating fare system will be implemented to provide passengers with more choices for travel. For the specific execution fare of each train, please check the 12306 website when purchasing tickets.
What are the reasons for the price increase of high-speed rail?
China Railway Group responds to "market behavior"
Regarding the above-mentioned price adjustment, the relevant person in charge of China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Railway Group") responded to reporters that "it is a normal market behavior". As for whether the follow-up service quality will be further improved, the relevant person in charge said, "Stay tuned."
Some media quoted the relevant person in charge of the national railway as saying that the current optimization and adjustment of fares for some high-speed rail lines is a measure for the national railway group to deepen the structural reform of the transportation supply side. "The purpose is to promote the growth of passenger flow and comprehensively improve the quality of passenger service through the flexible implementation of the market-oriented mechanism of high-speed rail fares".
"Floating fares" have been implemented in Chinese railways for several years. According to the reporter's understanding, at the end of 2020, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway took the lead in implementing floating fares for high-speed rail EMU trains with a speed of 300 to 350 kilometers per hour.
As for whether the price will be raised year by year in the future, the management of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway pointed out at the investor interaction event in April 2022 that the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is located in the eastern region with abundant passenger flow, and it also has the basis for fare increases, and the ability of passengers to pay and the level of regional economic development can be supported. The adjustment of the fare mechanism is still in the exploratory stage, and there is no fixed frequency, and it is more to refer to the competing modes of transportation to make some adjustments.
According to CCTV News, the dynamic price adjustment of high-speed rail, for passengers who are more sensitive to price but have a large time redundancy, they can avoid peak hours, and the travel cost is lower. After the optimization and adjustment of some high-speed rail fares, there may be multiple prices for high-speed rail trains on the same day and on the same journey, and passengers can carefully compare and choose their favorite trains just like buying air tickets. Experts believe that flexible freight rates can, on the one hand, enhance the sensitivity of railways to the market and speed up the pace of integration of the railway corporation into the market; on the other hand, it can improve the income expectations and operating environment of the railway industry, and enhance the attractiveness of the railway industry to social capital, so as to live water and raise fish.
The railway price adjustment will further increase the profitability of China Railway Group. With the recovery of the domestic passenger transport market, the operating efficiency of China Railway Group has increased significantly last year. According to the recent disclosure of China Railway Group, in 2023, China Railway Group will achieve operating income of 1,245.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, and a net profit of 3.3 billion yuan, and in the first quarter of 2024, China Railway Group will achieve operating income of 283.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%.
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Source: The Paper, China Railway 12306 website, Xinhua News Agency, Nanfang Daily
Editor-in-charge: Zhu Meirong
Editor: Anne Xu