Just before the Chinese New Year and with COVID remaining an ominous threat might not be the best time to launch hundreds of new services in a revamped nationwide railway timetable. But what’s done is done; nevertheless, some who can keep off the trains are in for a handsome reward.
Yesterday, 20 January, saw China’s latest nationwide train timetable come into operation. In all, some 325 new passenger services have been added to the system network, taking the country’s total to a whopping 10,203.
Many of the new trains are concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta area, comprising the municipality of Shanghai, together with the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhenjiang and Anhui. Two new lines in particular have recently opened, completing high-speed rail links between the cities of Lianyungang and Zhenjiang in Jiangsu, as well as between Yancheng and Nantong, also in our very own Jiangsu.
As a result, all 13 cities of Jiangsu now have direct high-speed rail links with the nation’s capital. Until now, travellers in the cities of Nantong, Yangzhou and Taizhou could only take slower, green trains to Beijing, with journey times of more than 10 hours, reported the Yangtze Evening News.
On the new line, the G882 train now takes 5 hours and 22 minutes to make the journey from Taizhou Railway Station to Being South Railway Station.
Across the Yangtze River Delta, there are now some 1,222 pairs of passenger trains in daily operation. Among them, Nanjing is now linked for the first time with Tongcheng in Anhui Province, while services from Nanjing to Huai’an and Lianyunggan in northern Jiangsu now only take as little as 1 hour, 38 minutes, and 2 hours, 25 minutes, respectively.
Social Distancing on Trains During Chinese New Year? Impossible!
While this publication is in no way condoning any form of long distance travel during the upcoming Spring festival, those who do may find the experience altogether more comfortable than in any other year, despite having to wear a face mask.
This is the potential upshot of various measures presently being put in place in what may turn out to be a vain effort to persuade the Chinese populace not to return to their hometown, and to keep COVID at bay during this critical juncture.
Already, all passengers arriving by train in Nanjing are required to show both their health and travel codes at the ticket check upon exit. That’s keeping us in Nanjing safe. And to try to do likewise for the rest of the nation, some unusual incentives have been rolled out.
One particular part of Nanjing’s Jiangbei New Area is even taking to financial incentives to try to get people to stay put. The subdistrict of Taishan has adopted an official measure that will reward a company with ¥500 per non-local employee if it is able to get them to remain in Nanjing for the holiday, reports Nanjing Daily. Whether some or all of that money filters down to the actual employee is another question, of course.
For those who do take to the trains, they will find additional services put on, and the numbers of people on trains rigorously capped, in an attempt at social distancing. The message is clear; please stay home this year.
But will it all be enough? With many Chinese people robbed of their new year traditions last year, isn’t this all a bit like asking a salmon not to return to its spawning grounds?
