Cargo transport set to benefit from link

But Zhao Jian, professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, is less optimistic about a substantial improvement in cargo transport capacity.

"In reality, a very limited number of passenger trains will stop operating after the high-speed railway opens."

Zhao said many passengers on the Beijing-Guangzhou route will still take the old trains as they will not be able to afford ticket prices for the high-speed service.

A ticket for travel between Beijing and Guangzhou is 253 yuan ($40), but a ticket for the same route on the high-speed service costs 865 yuan.

Jin Jiaxin, an analyst with Xiangcai Securities, said: "It will take quite a long time to ultimately replace the existing passenger trains with cargo capacity."

Railways are an ideal logistical solution because of high efficiency and low cost, Jin said. The transportation cost for delivering 1 ton of goods 1 km by rail is 0.12 yuan on average, and by road the cost is about 0.5 yuan. "By air, it will be as high as 6 yuan," she added.

Chu Xuejian, a professor specializing in logistics with Shanghai University, said:" The development of a railway network and railway operating system should be an opportunity for the development of cargo transportation."

Chu said the main problem with rail transport is how to link stations to other modes of transport. Without such links, rail transport cannot be truly efficient and low-cost because cargo needs to be unloaded and reloaded, which is not only time-consuming but also expensive, Chu said.

Express delivery

The rapid development of the high-speed rail system may bode well for express deliveries, Chu added.

The e-commerce boom has brought great demand for such services, and railways are an important long-distance transportation solution for the industry thanks to their better punctuality than road transport, and lower expenses than airlines.

Business volume for express delivery services surged 51 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012, and revenue of more than 100 billion yuan is expected, according to a report from the State Post Bureau in September.

Less than 5 percent of express delivery services currently use rail services, with 80 percent using road transport. The rapid expansion of China's high-speed railway network will change the market, as it will lower express delivery costs by at least 50 percent, according to a report by the China Business Times on Dec 17, citing unnamed sources.

wang_ying@chinadaily.com.cn