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New Competition Atmosphere Prevails on First Day of Rail Speed-Raise
October 21 saw the comprehensive implementation of the fourth-time rail-speed raising and the new train run chart. Passengers taking the No. T108/107 express train from Shenzhen to west Beijing run by the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway Co. Ltd. will really enjoy the benefits brought about by competition: vehicle wireless telephone, free sewing, mending and ironing of clothes, shoe-polishing, free newspapers and magazines, karaoke orchestra , and booking train and steamer tickets and hotel rooms. In addition, they will save approximately 12 hours compared with passengers who take express train No.T106/105 run by Beijing Railway Bureau through the whole course on the same day.
Competition also broke out on another busy trunk line-the Beijing-Shanghai line. Today, four pairs of express passenger trains Nos. T13/14, T21/22, T103/104, and T109/110 started off from the opposite directions in the two cities of Beijing and Shanghai within two hours' time, Trains Nos. T13/14 and T21/22 are new-type express trains which have the best hardware equipment and provide the best service in China's railways and which adopt the new organizational form for the entire course eight-minute interval-tracing operation for the first time, and which are operated respectively by the Shanghai and Beijing railway bureaus. According to railway minister Fu Zhihuan, the ultimate aim of introducing the competition mechanism in the same golden period is to benefit the broad masses of passengers and to improve the competitiveness of railways.
The Beijing and Shanghai railway bureaus have also made thorough preparations for the running of new-type express passenger trains Nos. T13/14 and T21/22. In the purchase of locomotives, the two sides have respectively chosen and used the new parlor cars of distinct features manufactured and developed by the China Northern Rolling Stock Group and the China Southern Rolling Stock Group; in the selection of train attendants, both sides adopted the method of strict screening and being geared to society, the 94 train attendants of Beijing Railway Bureau have all gone through military training and professional ability training, the Air China Training School has intensified train study and practice; in the management mechanism, the Beijing Railway Bureau also introduced the ISO9000 quality certification system and, drawing on the management experiences of aviation crew members and set down train crew service standard in accordance with express train standards.
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