Interface News Reporter |Tang Jun.Recently, the 12306 app has been revised, in addition to the changes in the interactive interface, the biggest change is the addition of discount information.
For example, at 6:20 in the morning, the G103 high-speed rail from Beijing to Shanghai, the second-class ticket price is 576 yuan, and the discount is 87% off, 9% off for first class2% off.
The difference in train fares for the same line is mainly due to the implementation of a floating fare mechanism. Floating fares are capped at the "published fare", and different discounts are applied for different trains. The published fares of each train can be found at 12306, which is generally higher than the original fixed fare.
At present, a number of high-speed rail lines implement floating fares, including the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway, Shanghai-Nanjing intercity, etc., which have been opened for many years.
In fact, in 2016, China Railway Group obtained the right to set its own price for high-speed rail. The "Notice on Reforming and Improving the Passenger Fare Policy for High-speed Rail EMUs", which was implemented on January 1 of that year, mentioned that high-speed rail EMUs could formulate published fares without discounts, and then determine the actual implementation fares based on the published fares.
By April 2017, the railway department implemented floating fares for the first time on the southeast coast high-speed railway. In July 2018, the floating fare model was extended to Hefei-Wuhan, Wuhan-Yichang, Guiyang-Guangzhou, Shanghai-Nanjing, Nanjing-Hangzhou and other high-speed rail lines. In December 2020, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway also began to implement floating fares. Since then, more lines have adopted this pricing model.
When the railway authorities implement floating fares, they generally indicate that the fares "go up and down". However, the interface news reporter counted the fares of some lines and found that the number of cars with price increases is generally higher than the number of car prices reduced, and in general, the fares of these lines are also the same.
Taking the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway as an example, the fixed fare for the second-class seat was 553 yuan before, and the published fare is now 662 yuan. On December 20, 35 trains from Beijing South Railway Station to Shanghai Hongqiao Station were opened, of which only 2 trains had second-class tickets lower than 553 yuan, 5 trains were the same as the original fixed fares, and the remaining 80% of the trains were higher than the original fares. Among the trains with price increases, the actual fares of 8 trains are the same as the published fares (662 yuan).
Regarding floating fares, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway mentioned in its 2022 financial report that it will further explore the dynamic coupling law between high-speed rail fares, product competitiveness and passenger flow characteristics, and improve the flexibility of the fare implementation plan.
The Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway from Beijing West to Wuhan began to implement floating fares in June last year, and before that, the fixed fare for second-class seats was 5205 yuan, and the published ticket price is now 623 yuan.
According to Jiemian News statistics, on December 20, a total of 30 high-speed trains from Beijing West Railway Station to Wuhan Station were opened, of which 16 trains had lower fares than the original, and 14 train fares had decreased. Most of the trains with the highest published fares are priced according to the highest published fare, which is equivalent to 1025 yuan;Among the trains whose fares have dropped, only a few have reduced their fares by more than 50 yuan.
From the perspective of the Jingwu section of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, the level of the ticket price is more related to the travel time, and the shorter the high-speed rail fare, the more expensive the fare. The whole journey takes less than 5 hours for the high-speed rail, and the ticket price is basically 623 yuan;The high-speed rail, which takes about 6 hours, costs only 467 yuan.
Overall, the magnitude of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway** is greater than the decline. If calculated according to the 538 second-class seats of the 8-car Fuxing train, assuming that the occupancy rate is 70%, then the ticket income of the second-class seats in the direction of Beijing-Wuhan on the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway will be 450,000 yuan a day.
In addition, Liuzhou to Nanning East on the Liunan passenger line, the previous second-class ticket price was 75 yuan or 79 yuan. Since May this year, Liunan has implemented floating fares. According to the statistics of interface news, on December 20, a total of 45 trains were opened from Liuzhou to Nanning East, of which 32 trains had a ticket price between 87 yuan and 94 yuan.
Zhao Jian, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, told Jiemian News that the high-speed rail itself is a commercial project, which is repaired with loans, and most of the lines are in a state of loss.
This year, the railway passenger flow has rebounded sharply, and the revenue of China Railway Group has also increased significantly. In the first three quarters, China Railway Group achieved a total operating income of 908 billion yuan, an increase of 161%；The profit was 12.1 billion yuan, turning losses into profits.
Zhao Jian believes that while there are more and more high-speed railways, more attention should be paid to the reduction of general-speed trains. The hard seats of ordinary speed trains have a certain public welfare, and there is still a demand for them from groups with low incomes.