Why does it cost 591 yuan to go from Shanghai Station to Shanghai Hongqiao Station? This 78-year-old Shanghai citizen
At 10:27 am on the 15th, the G8388 high-speed train departed from Shanghai Station. This is the first circular high-speed train across three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta, known as the "Yangtze River Delta Super Loop High-speed Train". Early that morning, 78-year-old Shanghai citizen Gong Benyuan left his home in Xuhui and took bus No. 41 to Shanghai Railway Station. He arrived at the station at 9 a.m. to wait for the train. He was going to take this circular high-speed train. He excitedly told Gong Benyuan that he had a full-trip ticket for the circular high-speed train.
It is understood that the G8388/9/8 train stops at 21 stations including Shanghai, Nanjing South, Hefei South, Chizhou, Qiandao Lake, Hangzhou East, and Shanghai Hongqiao. The one-way mileage exceeds 1,200 kilometers, and the whole travel time is 8 hours and 9 minutes. For the first time, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui are connected into a "circle" through circular train products, making the "Yangtze River Delta on Tracks" concrete and perceptible.
Some netizens said before that "other trains cost 15 yuan, this train costs 591 yuan, STO: I only need 5 yuan", which means that it costs about 15 yuan to take the high-speed rail from Shanghai Station to Hongqiao Station, and it costs 591 yuan to take this circular high-speed rail train for the whole journey, while it only costs 5 yuan if you take the Shanghai Metro. On the morning of the 15th, the reporter took the G7358 train that started in the morning, from Shanghai Hongqiao Station to Shanghai Station, costing 14 yuan and taking 28 minutes. Taking this circular high-speed rail with Gong Benyuan, the reporter was able to "fill" the "gap" between Shanghai Hongqiao Station and Shanghai Station in the circular line, and actually walked through this newly added circular "corridor" of the "Yangtze River Delta on Track".
Why did Gong Benyuan choose this time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive mode of transportation? He recalled the past more than 50 years ago. Around the 1970s, when he was 24 years old, he worked as a staff member of the Shanghai Second Construction Engineering Company and went to Chizhou, Anhui to participate in the construction of the "Small Third Line". It took two years. For many years, he had always hoped to have the opportunity to revisit the old place. The opening of the circular high-speed rail allowed him to "realize his dream". "I have been to Huangshan, although I have not been to Jiuhua Mountain. This time I will not travel outside the station, just take a look along the line." At that time, Gong Benyuan needed to take a boat from Shanghai Shiliupu Wharf to Chizhou from Shanghai, go up the Yangtze River, stop in Nanjing, Wuhu and other places, and it took two days and one night to reach Chizhou. This time, it only takes less than 4.5 hours to reach Chizhou by high-speed rail.
At this time, the train announced "The next stop is Hefei South Station". He said excitedly that although he was born and raised in Shanghai, his ancestral home is in Hefei. A long time ago, when he went to Hefei to visit relatives, he had to take a detour through Bengbu, "first go north from Nanjing to Bengbu, and then go south to Hefei". Now Nanjing can go directly to Hefei, which is more convenient.
In order to buy the ticket for this "dream-fulfilling" journey, he went to Shanghai Station to buy a ticket after seeing relevant reports on May 28, hoping to catch the first train. However, since the tickets were not available at that time, he had to leave in disappointment. Later, he learned from the radio that the tickets would go on sale that day, so he came to the station early. Only then did he learn that the tickets would be officially sold in the afternoon. At this time, a staff member wrote down his contact information and promised to call him once the tickets were available. In the end, after running three times, Gong Benyuan bought the ticket. On the train, Gong Benyuan showed reporters and passengers around him his ticket and the newspaper that he had cut out to see the news about the train that day, which surprised the passenger sitting next to him. Coincidentally, the passenger happened to be from Chizhou, and soon the two chatted about Chizhou.
The train is about to enter Chizhou Station. Gong Benyuan stands at the door of the carriage and looks out the window.
Gong Benyuan found it incredible that he could "visit" the three provinces and one city in the Yangtze River Delta in more than 8 hours. When he was about to arrive at Chizhou Station, he left his seat early and came to the door of the carriage, looking at Chizhou outside. He said that he had not been back for 53 years. When the train slowly entered Chizhou Station, he sighed, "There was no railway station in Chizhou at that time." As soon as the train stopped, he was the first to rush to the platform and took a photo with Chizhou Station.
As Xu Ruihua, a railway expert and professor at the School of Transportation Engineering of Tongji University, said, in the process of compiling the train operation diagram, the loop train enriches the train products and provides passengers with a variety of choices. After all, there are only a few passengers who "take a full trip" like Gong Benyuan. Most passengers still mainly "ride in sections". The reporter randomly interviewed nearly 10 passengers on the train. Except for Gong Benyuan, the other passengers said that they mainly considered whether the time was suitable, and they did not know that this train was a loop high-speed railway. Just as netizens found that "tickets from the starting point to the end point cannot be bought", it was observed that the ticket was not sold. Gong Benyuan and the reporter's tickets were tickets for two consecutive trips. However, the practice of not selling full-trip tickets has avoided passengers from buying by mistake to a certain extent.
The loop line design can not only give full play to the advantages of the Yangtze River Delta road network and further improve the efficiency of EMU vehicle utilization, but also string together the main passenger flow points along the line, reduce the trouble of some passengers transferring in high-speed rail hub cities, and better meet the travel needs of the people in the loop line cities. Tang Jie, deputy secretary of the Party General Branch of the Passenger Transport Workshop of Shanghai Station, said that the train currently uses 8 carriages and has a capacity of 610 people. 473 tickets were sold on the day of departure from Shanghai Station, with an occupancy rate of over 77%. Most of the passengers' destinations are Suzhou, Wuxi, Nanjing, Huangshan and Jiuhua Mountain. It is not difficult to see that the train operation is during the period of high-speed rail passenger flow, which can better meet the daily business, commuting and tourism needs in the Yangtze River Delta.
"Shanghai and Huangshan are one family, Huangshan welcomes you." Before the train departed, the Seven Fairies, Sun Wukong and others played by Huangshan's cultural and tourism recommendation officer shouted slogans together. Lin Qianqian, who played the Seven Fairies, said that with the recent opening of the Chihuang High-speed Railway, it has become more convenient to travel to Huangshan from the Yangtze River Delta. They came to Shanghai yesterday to catch the "Dongfeng" of the first train and invite everyone to visit Huangshan.
At 3:28 pm, the train arrived at Huangshan West Station, the "closest high-speed railway station to Huangshan Scenic Area". In April this year, the Chihuang High-speed Railway was opened, filling the "last link" of the high-speed railway operation of the loop line. Integrating into the integration of the Yangtze River Delta, Huangshan is moving fast and making precise efforts. "This loop line connects the most important source market of tourists in Huangshan District, and at the same time connects the most essential tourist routes of Anhui's 'Big Huangshan'." Lv Yingping, deputy director of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Huangshan District, Huangshan City, said that since the opening of the Chihuang High-speed Railway, Huangshan District has launched an activity where high-speed railway tickets arriving at Huangshan West Station can be used to visit 10 scenic spots in Huangshan District, including Huangshan and Taiping Lake, at half price, and it will continue until the end of this year; in addition, every Wednesday, A-level scenic spots such as Huangshan also launch "Wednesday Free Day" activities.
In order to maximize the social and economic value of the circular high-speed rail, relevant experts said that more cities along the line can launch similar measures as Huangshan, taking advantage of the integration opportunities of the Yangtze River Delta to enhance the city's influence and reputation. At the same time, cities along the line can also consider establishing a tourism alliance to create a Yangtze River Delta tourism belt. For the railway department, it can consider selling special tickets to encourage circular tourism, so that tourists can travel freely in cities along the line.
At present, the loop high-speed train runs in a one-way mode between Shanghai Station and Shanghai Hongqiao Station. Experts suggest that the railway department may consider arranging two-way operation when "adjusting the timetable" to increase passenger options. In this regard, the railway department will continue to track the operation of trains, continuously optimize the operation plan, and take measures such as expanding capacity and adjusting stations as needed to further meet the diverse travel needs of passengers and better promote the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta integration.
Data shows that in 2023, the total GDP of the Yangtze River Delta region will be about 30.5 trillion yuan, and the total GDP of the 12 cities connected by this line will reach 16.44 trillion yuan, which can be said to be "half of the country" in the Yangtze River Delta. Among them, it connects 7 cities with GDP of "trillion yuan" in the Yangtze River Delta, connecting the Shanghai metropolitan area, Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou metropolitan area, Nanjing metropolitan area, Hefei metropolitan area and Hangzhou metropolitan area. Xu Ruihua said that at present, this ring line high-speed rail has a demonstration and leading significance. The railway department will continue to explore and launch new train products based on the construction of the road network. In particular, with the construction and improvement of the "Yangtze River Delta on Track" in the future, there will be more room for imagination. Some people expect that with the construction of the North Yangtze River High-speed Railway and the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo Railway in the future, it is expected to form a larger "high-speed rail circle" including the Ningbo metropolitan area; some people also imagine that if the Ningbo-Zhoushan Railway to Zhoushan is opened, the "Yangtze River Delta High-speed Rail Circle" is expected to expand.
