China’s expanding high-speed train network and soaring property prices in big cities have seen the birth of the “high-speed train tribe,” a new set of commuters who travel to and from work by bullet train.
Starting Monday, Beijing will be connected to Yanjiao Town in neighboring Hebei Province via three bullet trains during morning and evening rush hours. The new trains are a high-speed alternative for white-collar workers in the town who are used to suffering on slow, cramped buses on their way to the capital city.
The trains, coded D9022, D9023 and D9024, will help Yanjiao commuters reach Beijing in only half an hour, much shorter than buses, which typically take an hour.
Yanjiao, only 30 kilometers away, has been dubbed the “town of sleep” because its residents often work in Beijing and return to sleep there at night. The town has 600,000 residents, a majority of whom work in Beijing.
The new rail routes came as welcome news to commuters in Yanjiao, many of whom said they will finally be spared the trouble of being crammed on overloaded buses. By 9 p.m. Sunday, all Monday morning train tickets to Beijing had been sold out, according to official statistics.
But the public remains divided on the issue.
via “High-speed train tribe” grows with China’s expanding rail network – Xinhua | English.news.cn.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 