In comparison, China Southern Airlines Co, which flies A380 superjumbos on the three-hour route, offers full-price economy tickets at 1,700 yuan excluding fuel surcharge.
"We have taken into consideration passengers' affordability while setting prices. It's normal for someone to think that prices are too high, and we also have people who think the price level is appropriate," said Ma Mingzheng, deputy general manager of the Henan branch of the Beijing-Guangzhou railway.
Ma, speaking during a test run with journalists, also said that rates were on trial basis, and may be subject to adjustment.
Bullet trains on the line can run at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, Xinhua news agency reported, shortening travel time from the capital to the Pearl River Delta to about eight hours from the previous 24.
China is accelerating railway investment again after it introduced new safety measures following a train crash in Wenzhou that killed 40 people in July 2011. Railway investment as of October rose almost 250 percent from a year earlier as the government stepped up fiscal measures to help growth.
"Government-driven investment has quick effects on boosting growth in the short term," Yuan Gangming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "But you can't rely on investment to drive growth forever."
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