The measures are expected to disperse the safety concerns raised after a bullet train crash last year near the southern city of Wenzhou left 40 people dead.
According to an earlier announcement of the MOR, the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway will open on Dec. 26 and is expected to cut the travel time to about 8 hours from the current 20-odd hours by traditional lines.
Designed with a maximum speed of 350 km per hour, the railway has 35 stops in major cities, including Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha.
More than 2,000 tickets were sold for the Guangzhou-Beijing high-speed journey for Dec. 26 on Thursday, the first day passengers could book tickets.
However, some passengers are still hesitant to take the new rail for relatively higher fares that can nearly rival their flying counterparts.
A second-class coach fare from Beijing to Guangzhou is 865 yuan (138 U.S. dollars), and the cheapest air ticket for Dec. 26 costs only 25 yuan more, 493 yuan lower than first-class coach tickets.
Zhao Chunlei, a senior official in charge of transportation of the MOR, said tickets are priced to meet the demands of different people, and fares will fluctuate under market forces.
People in Hainan enjoy warm weather
Feedback
RSS
