TRAIN fares will be increased by 15 to 20 percent a week prior to the Spring Festival Eve as well as after the Spring Festival, which falls on Jan. 29 this year, according to a rail fare adjustment plan recently reported by the Xinhua news agency.

Fares for seaters will rise by 15 percent while fares for sleepers will increase by 20 percent. However, those for seaters of temporary holiday trains, not including express trains, will not increase. Students and disabled military veterans will not have to pay extra either. Fares during the Jan. 28-30 period will drop by 10 percent, Xinhua said.

A nationwide spurt in travel is expected during the Spring Festival, or China's lunar New Year. The number of people traveling by train during the weeklong holiday is predicted to reach 144 million, while the number of people traveling by air would amount to 15 million, according to the State Development and Reform Commission.

In another development, Chinese Vice Premier Huang Ju said at a conference in Beijing on Saturday that China will step up the construction of railways in the 2006-2010 period to address the transportation bottleneck of the economy.

Sources with the railways ministry said that China will not only construct more railway lines during this period, but also plan for large-scale upgrades of train speed in October.

Compared with other means of transportation, Huang said, railways consume less energy but have larger capacity. As the country is facing an energy shortage, railway development should be given priority.

China will invest 160 billion yuan (US$19.7 billion) on railway construction in 2006. The new projects will include 13 railway projects for passenger transport and 11 projects already under construction.

Editor: Wing