China railways scandal widens, raising criticism

[CardSharp]

China's five year plan is like the 4 year term of western government (campaign vows ???). Only that the new guy builds on previous guy's work instead of tearing it down.

One of the reasons why I am optimistic about China's future. The world is changing and changing fast, leaders will need to be able to see what is coming down the road, if the country isn't to be caught out.

 

[below_freezing]

Can I ask you how much it costs in a Bus ticket from Shanghai to Wuhan? Of course people can take buses, but how can you move such a massive numbers of people through road? Isn't the point of railways ... to move people out of the roads?

【上海做长途汽车去æ¦æ±‰è¦å¤šå°‘钱啊？】驾驶/交规ç”ç–‘-易车网

307 RMB if you ride directly to Wuhan on the luxury bus with air conditioner and soft seats. They cut it down to 18 hours now too. If you ride to the nearest major city Huangshi it's down to 271. That's why these guys aren't actually "scared of money", if they were really poor, ride the bus, if they dare... but we all know they're all talk and no walk and will still pay for HSR before they sit on a bus for this long.

There's also the horrible no air conditioner slow buses that take 30 hours and don't drive on the highway to save costs. 169 RMB for those.

 

[StingRoy]

They complain because they see other people use HSR when they cannot afford it.

I don't think they are complaining because of jealousy ... do you? I think there aren't many options for these masses who don't want to spend a lot of their savings in travel alone..

 

[tanlixiang28776]

I don't think they are complaining because of jealousy ... do you? I think there aren't many options for these masses who don't want to spend a lot of their savings in travel alone..

I live in the US and I'm a bit jealous. seven minutes wait time with no one groping you to get in.

 

[below_freezing]

I don't think they are complaining because of jealousy ... do you? I think there aren't many options for these masses who don't want to spend a lot of their savings in travel alone..

I completely agree and the key is to increase incomes, not reduce HSR construction. HSR is literally now or never, we will never be able to make these railways at an affordable price later on when the prices of not only labor but of iron ore and petroleum increase.

Also, if they really don't have money, bus.

 

[Anonymous user]

I agree to that... it does take a huge amount of money and time to invest in such massive scale projects. I have a great admiration for the speed at which the HSR has been implemented and at the same time I have had apprehensions about justifying its cost/benefit ratio to the common man.

Thats true but interesting my distant relatives in China actually don't have much issues in afford-ability for the HSR and I consider them middle class citizens. I think the HSR was to compliment the users of air travel but of the course the cost of building it is a huge commitment and that probably strikes the ire of the lower class citizens (laborers and factory workers).

Interestingly the normal trains are actually pretty fast, I took one from Beijing to Guangzhou which averaged about 120 - 150 kmh. The cheapest ticket price was 7 USD if you didn't mind sitting for 12 hours.

 

[no_name]

One of the reasons why I am optimistic about China's future. The world is changing and changing fast, leaders will need to be able to see what is coming down the road, if the country isn't to be caught out.

That is especially improtant for big countries. They start moving slow but once picked up steam are hard to slow.

 

[StingRoy]

307 RMB if you ride directly to Wuhan on the luxury bus with air conditioner and soft seats. They cut it down to 18 hours now too. If you ride to the nearest major city Huangshi it's down to 271. That's why these guys aren't actually "scared of money", if they were really poor, ride the bus, if they dare... but we all know they're all talk and no walk and will still pay for HSR before they sit on a bus for this long.
There's also the horrible no air conditioner slow buses that take 30 hours and don't drive on the highway to save costs. 169 RMB for those.

And how much would it be for a normal rail ticket and an HSR ticket?

 

[Tractor]

I don't think they are complaining because of jealousy ... do you? I think there aren't many options for these masses who don't want to spend a lot of their savings in travel alone..

Maybe what you said is the real thing.I travel for company business not afford by myself.Options are many but long trip really a tiredness.

 

[Tractor]

And how much would it be for a normal rail ticket and an HSR ticket?

For Tianjin to Beijing for 120km is 58RMB(maybe USD8).
300RMB from Changsha to Beijing 1500km in normal train.

 

[below_freezing]

And how much would it be for a normal rail ticket and an HSR ticket?

regular train 279 RMB july 2010 D3018. no high speed rail yet.

 

[Anonymous user]

Do you guys know what the rough price difference is in %, I'm interested in whats the price difference as well

 

[no_name]

I wonder if the price percentage is just the reverse of travel time comparison?

 

[StingRoy]

Maybe what you said is the real thing.I travel for company business not afford by myself.Options are many but long trip really a tiredness.

Yeah I know... I wouldn't want to waste any more than 6-8 hrs in traveling. I remember when I was a kid, the longest I was in a train was for some 50 hrs and I still have those memories... of course things have improved a lot in Indian railways since... now we cover that distance in less than half the time, but alas I don't get to experience 20 hrs on the train anymore, just fly over.
But for the poor who cannot afford, sometimes the bus journeys are much more expensive compared to railways in India. So if there is a train connectivity the poor still travel in train... it is much more affordable for them.

---------- Post added at 06:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:01 PM ----------

I wonder if the price percentage is just the reverse of travel time comparison?

I doubt it will be so... there is always an exponential element to time and cost in travel.

 

[CardSharp]

In this kind of situations you basically ask yourself, "how much is my time worth?" and "how much in dollar values is comfort worth to me" and work out the math. That's how I make these decision.