Trains on top as airlines struggle with competition

Everything is about trains these days in China. For many years, it has been the best way to see China, and the high-speed rail network is a fantastic achievement.

It seems that intercity commuters have cottoned on to this fact, and competition from high-speed rail has caused difficulties for Chinese airlines as more people opt to take the train than fly between cities.

Flagship routes such as Beijing to Shanghai, which was always dominated by flights, have been hard hit by the bullet trains that can now do the route in four and a half hours, competing with air travel once you factor in airport hassle and security. Beijing to Guangzhou, a 2,298km journey that used to take 22 hours, now takes just eight hours since the opening in December of the rail line between the capital and the southern commercial hub.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said that Air China, China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and other mainland carriers collectively reported 1 billion yuan (€120 million) in losses last month, the official China Business News reported.

High-speed network

Passenger demand declined at all three major carriers. Air China’s revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), which multiplies the number of paying passengers by the distance travelled, decreased 1.5 per cent year-on-year last month. The measure at China Eastern and China Southern fell 2 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively, the South China Morning Post said.

China started its high-speed rail network in 2007, but already it is the biggest in the world with 9,356km of high-speed railways, which is expected to rise to 18,000km in the next two years.

The big carriers like Air China are trying to grow business in long-haul flights, to Europe and the US.

And the next stage in rail infrastructure building will be the construction of Beijing’s first maglev train, Line S1, which will get under construction once the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) grants its approval.

Resident relocation, environmental impact evaluation and operational safety assessment of the project have all been completed.

Shanghai currently has the world’s only commercially operating maglev service which runs 30km from Pudong airport into near downtown.