英闻天下——593 High Speed Train Too Expensive

 　　A faster way of travel but with higher cost, high-speed rail in China continues to undergoing doublt.

 

　　The 2,298-kilometer line which links five regional economic centers including Beijing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and Guangzhou, largely shortens the traveling time between Beijing and Guangzhou to eight hours. But many people complain that tickets for the high-speed railway are too expensive. The top price for a ticket from Beijing to Guangzhou is more than 2,000 yuan, or 317 U.S. dollars, comparable to the price of an air ticket.

 

　　Many people have asked what determines high-speed rail ticket prices—the operation costs or people's consumption ability. What is the reason behind the high prices of high-speed trains?

 

　　Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, explains.

 

　　"The cost of the high-speed railway includes construction and operating costs. The technological¹ standards of the high-speed railway are very high. Therefore, it has had high costs for construction and operation. Certainly, the ticket prices of bullet train are definitely high."

 

　　Zhao Jian says he believes the high-speed line between Beijing and Guangzhou will see a big loss, because all of China's other high-speed lines are currently in the red.

 

　　The annual operating costs of the Beijing-Tianjin bullet train have been 1.8 billion yuan since the line started running in August 2008. It lost 700 million yuan during its first year of its operation. After the second year of operation, the high-speed line nearly broke even. And the high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai will not see a profit until 2014.

 

　　Zhao Jian estimates that the operating losses of the Beijing to Guangzhou line will reach 700 million yuan every year. In the meantime, other lines, such as the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity train and the Beijing-Shanghai high speed rails, have said they would slow train speeds and lower ticket prices to make ends meet.

 

　　"Although ticket prices for the high-speed train are three times higher than that of other railways, the high-speed line will still see a loss. When the technological standards for high-speed trains were set and their market positioning was done, the prices were then fixed². So the question is why didn't we have any further discussion about technological standards and market positioning at the beginning of high-speed railway construction?"

 

　　Currently in China, migrant workers and students are the main rail travelers, followed by tourists and businesspeople, so the majority of travelers using trains are relatively³ sensitive to high ticket prices.

 

　　Because of expensive tickets, trains running between Wuhan and Guangzhou, a section that was completed and went into operation earlier than the rest of the Beijing-Guangzhou line, often run with empty carriages.

 

　　Although the high-ticket prices cannot cover the costs of operating the line, passengers still complain about unaffordable prices.

 

　　Qiu Baochang, a lawyer specialized⁴ in consumer rights protection in Beijing, says the situation is caused by insufficient⁵ transparency in setting prices.

 

　　"Why is there so much complaining about high-speed train prices? Because the price setting is far from transparent⁶. It's one-sided price."

 

　　many people say railway authorities should rethink the high-speed railway construction program, because borrowing money from banks and building costly⁷ railways as soon as possible causes problems. The financial burden is then transferred to passengers, whose average income is growing more slowly than sharply rising ticket prices on every class of train.

 

　　Only when prices are acceptable to most consumers can high-speed rail travel have a positive effect in promoting local economic growth. Otherwise, such rail lines will not be able to make ends meet in the long run.

 

　　For CRI, I am Zhang Wan⁸.

1 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

2 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

5 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

6 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

7 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

8 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。