Rail ticket prices will increase from February 1 to 7 and after February 13 this year, peak travel periods for the Spring Festival, according to the Ministry of Railways yesterday.
During the peak travel period this year, a total of 137 million passengers are expected to take trains. Before the Spring Festival holiday, Guangdong Province, Beijing and Shanghai will experience large passenger movement, while after the holiday, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang and Fuyang will be crowded with passengers.
Ticket prices for hard seats will increase by 15 percent and for others will rise by 20 percent, said Jiang Weiping, spokesman with the transportation bureau of the Ministry of Railways. Like previous years, before the holiday, rail tickets from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province will see price increases, and after the holidays, those from Zhengzhou, Nanchang and Chengdu will see price increases.
From February 8 to 10, which is the New Year's Eve, the first and second days of the Chinese lunar New Year, rail ticket prices will decline by 10 percent.
The price increases of last year and this year were both decided in the light of the results gained from a rail ticket hearing in 2002.
Many migrant workers have returned to their hometowns before the peak period to avoid the price increases.