It's that time of year again when buying a train ticket on the mainland becomes a test of stamina and strength. The Lunar New Year holiday is the busiest season for the rail network, with up to 6 million passengers a day travelling. So stretched is the system that demand for tickets far outstrips capacity. Obtaining one requires either hours of queuing, or paying a tout an inflated price.
Yet, while people struggle to get on board packed trains, the rail network is undergoing unprecedented expansion. The Ministry of Railways is pumping 700 billion yuan (HK$824 billion) every year into buying new trains and laying thousands of kilometres of extra track. The problem is that, far from making it easier to get home for the Lunar New Year, the massive investment is actually making it harder.
Beijing has staked the nation's future on high-risk, high-speed trains. At 8,358 kilometres, China already has the longest high-speed rail network in the world and, by next year, that will have been extended to 13,000 kilometres. The latest line opened this month, between Guangzhou and Zhuhai. A week before that, it was announced that the much-trumpeted Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail link, the world's longest high-speed line, will open in June. Construction will begin on at least 15 more high-speed lines this year.
But while high-speed trains cut journey times, they are also expensive to build, maintain and operate. That means ticket prices are far higher than on ordinary trains. Many people are now wondering why a developing country is transforming its rail network into one that most of its citizens can't afford to travel on.
Fares on the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed link are so high - 490 yuan for a second-class ticket - that it was quickly dubbed the 'white collar railway' after it began operating in December 2009. There is now a sleeper service between Shanghai and Chengdu that costs 2,330 yuan, more than double the price of the equivalent air ticket.
Unsurprisingly, many of the high-speed trains are running half-empty. Not only that, but as they are introduced, so the number of ordinary trains decreases. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Railways admitted that there would be fewer regular services during the Lunar New Year period.