National railway operator of China said that the high-speed rail will begin with the summer discounts for business cabins, first-class seats and state cabins on particular railway lines. For the very first time, the high-speed rail discounts will be covering first-class tickets, but second-class ones which are very difficult to get for the most popular lines are excluded from this round of special offer.
The China Railway Corporation said that the discount will begin from July 10, 2013 through August 31, 2013, along with changeable rates of up to 20 percent. The discounts will be implemented in order to conform with the market demand. It has also been stated that the discounted tickets will be available for certain sections of the Beijing – Guangzhou and the Beijing – Shanghai high-speed rails and some of which are discounted for the first time.
It has been noticed that the faster means of travel – the high-speed trains – frequently face complaints for their high prices, along with the transport capability which is unmatched with the market demand. The netizen ‘phils’ on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like micro-blogging site in China, said, “It is a good start, but I hope high-speed rails can be like the subway, running more in busy season and fewer in off season and not wasting on resources while claiming a deficit”.
In terms of discounts, prices for some of the short-distance first-class tickets and the second-class ones will be almost the same.
