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China’s most important high-speed railway linking two of the country’s most prominent economic areas finally operated on Thursday since it began construction in January 2008. China’s presidentpremier Wen Jiabao had arrived the scene and made an announcement of the longest and fastest railway in China. More info after the break.
Wen Jiabao’s first trip on high-speed railway
Beijing-Shanghai railway construction completed in November last year with total investment of 220.9 billion yuan (33.3 billion U.S. dollars), said to be the longest railway in the world. This tremendous service formally operated at 15:00 on the 30 June 2011. It comes with three features— Longest, Most Expensive, Highest quality. The rail line is connecting “three cities and four provinces”, 24 stations in total. Stations include:
The main 10 stations of the route:
1. Beijing-South Station
2. Tianjin South Station (30 mins)
3. Jinan Station (1 hr, 20 mins)
4. Taishan West Station (1 hr, 50 mins)
5. Qufu East Station (2 hrs, 16 mins)
6. Nanjing South Station (3 hrs, 30 mins)
7. Changzhou North Station (3 hrs, 40 mins)
8. Wuxi East Station (3 hrs, 55 mins)
9. Suzhou North Station (4 hrs, 05 mins)
10. Shanghai Hongqiao Station (4 hrs, 48 mins) (Termination)
For now, travels between Beijing and Shanghai had shorten from 9 hours to less than 5 hours. Moreover, the route does not necessary stop every 24 stations between Beijing and Shanghai. There are three options, and different options provide with different services:
1. One-stop direct from Beijing-Shanghai
2. Direct service between provinces
3. Staggered Stopping
At the beginning of the operation, 90 units of trains are in use, included 63 units with 300 km/hr [G], passenger capacity of 109 thousands; 27 units of 250 km/hr [D], passenger capacity of 45 thousands.
The lowest price is $410 RMB (around $63 USD), the highest price is $1750 RMB (around $269 USD). Price discrepancy depends on the speed of the trains (either [G] or [D]) and also the types of seats. There are 11 types to choose from, three main types such as first-class seat, second-class seat, commercial seats. Netease had self-made an animation introduced the seats. Moreover, you may check out more details and purchased tickets online through China Railway Customer Service Center Website.
You are require to have a valid document to purchase train ticket online (either one below):
1. ID cards
2. [Hong Kong, Macao] — [Mainland] valid pass
3. [Taiwan] — [Mainland] valid pass
4. Passport
Purchasing train ticket online will not allow to choose seats, the website will randomly arrange a seat for you. If tourists want to amend or cancel the ticket, you can deal with China Railway Customer Service Center Website in 2 hours before the train leaves the platform.
According to vice minister of Railways (Hu Yadong) explained that train tickets will opt the internet as the major channel of sales, “as it is the most convenient, most open, fairest channel.”. If you remember each year when spring festival began, then you must completely understand. But Hu also added they might can’t merely reply on the online purchasing system during spring festival, because the load of traffics may not be affordable for the website to operate. Therefore, the railway department is managing to launch telephone booking, electronic ticketing, credit card purchase, automatic fare collection at the end of the year in order to maximum the convenience for tourists. Besides, the railway will begin to have WiFi.
Domestic Airline Vs Bullet Train
The launch of Beijing-Shanghai railway definitely would result certain level of destruction to domestic airline. Flight between two cities is approximately $1,300 RMB ($200 USD), which is more than a triple of the lowest train fare. Domestic flight company worried to lose passengers, therefore they had slashed some tickets prices by as much as 65% to scramble. However, is this really helping the airline industry? Let’s listen to what the customers said.
Customers considered the value of high-speed railway is higher than airline. Firstly, train ticket is half-cheaper than flight fare. Secondly, flights always delays due to weather. Indeed, travelling from Beijing airport to Shanghai airport by airline takes more than 5 hours as passengers. So what do you prefer? Train or plane?
How does Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway stimulates China’s economic?
The railway linked two most important economic zones in China, which definitely would spur the growth of economic and the rate of employment. Besides, the cities and provinces that linked between Shanghai and Beijing dominated over a quarter of nation population, 40% of GDP.
At the moment, the price of the houses surround the region of Jinan Railway Station is rapidly increasing, where the real estate predicts the selling price of the region will increase from 3,000 yuan / square meters in 2006 up to 8,000 yuan / square meters at the beginning of October this year. But if cities near high-speed railway wants to see better economic growth, then it will require more fundamental facilities build up nearby the stations.
Gorgeous Cabin & Sexy Cabin Crews
What is require to be a sexy cabin crew?
1. Taller than 165 cm.
2. Around 19-22 years old.
3. Can speak Mandarin and English (must achieve a certain standard)
4. Beautiful (sort of)
5. Good body shape
6. Has the ability of doing the job of a tour
7. Always smile (the smile has to expose 8 teeth, no more or less than that) wth?
8. Biting chopsticks (to make the smile looks better perhaps?)
9. Good balance (place a book on their head)
10. Knowledgeable (smart)
If you had successfully chosen by the company, then the next pace is training, which begins at 09:00 until 04:30. In the meantime, you will have 36 units of subjects to be learnt and to remember a golden rule “Five S” — Smile, Speed, Standard, Sincere, Satisfy. Oh my god…
If customers are not happy with the crew, they can complain to the company as well. And this is how harsh this job is.
Can the company guarantee the railway is safe?
If you remember that the bullet train was told to slow down last month due to safety reason. This is all triggered by authorities’s corruption.
On June 17, Audit Commission published 39 cases and issues of the month, which included the corruption of Beijing-Shanghai railway official, involving up to $13.2 million Chinese yuan. Issues included illegal charges, embezzlement loans, relocation compensation fraud, secret “small treasuries” and so on.
From Audit commission founding, it discovered the manager of the company made fake purchase contracts, invoices and a single storage means, misappropriation of project funds of more than 380 million, and misappropriation of funds of more than 170 million projects. Besides, Shanghai Urban Construction Investment Co., Ltd. Bridge in the name of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail land acquisition granted a bank loan of $1.32 billion yuan, but in fact, the loan has nothing to do with the project. The corruption apparently is a very serious issue for the company to guarantee the high-speed railway is safe. But to make sure the railway has long-term maintenance seems even more significant.
Two days ago, the company also declared they are now getting patents in different regions, expanding the business and its bullet train technology outside of China. Will we have a day that we can travel from China to U.S. by high-speed railway across the pacific ocean?
Source: Xinhua, Zhulong, ChinaNews, AFP, Nfdaily
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