News 1+1丨What are the new changes in the new high-speed rail line during the National Day holiday?

This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are very close, so many people even asked for leave and paid off to have a super long holiday. According to the China Railway Group, within a 16-day travel cycle, the country’s railways are expected to carry 284 million passengers, with an average of 13,000 passenger trains planned to run every day. October 1 will usher in the peak of railway passenger flow. On September 28, our country opened four high-speed rail lines. Judging from the lines, they are not trunk lines, but very important capillaries. After opening, it first encountered the National Day holiday. What important role will they play in the National Day holiday? How will their role be manifested in the future?

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Four new lines of Zhimi High-speed Railway Microcirculation were put into operation on the same day

What impact will the opening of four new high-speed rail lines on the same day have on the upcoming National Day holiday? What are their characteristics?

Yin Ping, professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and researcher at the Sustainable Transportation Innovation Center:These four newly opened high-speed rail lines are important components of the “eight vertical and eight horizontal” proposed in our country’s medium- and long-term railway network planning. However, these four lines have their own characteristics in terms of positioning and nature.

First of all, the first two lines, from Xiong’an to Shangqiu and from Xi’an to Ankang, are important parts of the main roads. The Xiongan to Shangqiu line is a component of the Beijing-Hong Kong line, and the Xi’an to Ankang line is a major component of the Baotou to Haikou line. Both lines have greatly improved the integrity of the national trunk road.

The third line, the line from Yichang to Xingshan, is the connection line between the two main roads. After its opening, it will connect the two lines, one horizontally and one vertically, so that the interaction between the two national main roads can be more efficient.

The fourth line is from Harbin to Yichun. It is an extension of our country’s Beijing-Harbin high-speed railway. This extension will allow the vast Xiaoxinganling area to be integrated into the high-speed railway network, making travel more convenient for people in this area.

These four lines are all important components of our country’s high-speed rail network. They were opened on the same day, witnessing an important moment when our country’s high-speed rail has transformed from opening up the aorta to forming a network operation of capillaries.

The new line opens up traffic jams and welcomes development opportunities along the line

In recent years, many places have been trying to efficiently integrate high-speed rail and cultural tourism, and they have also tried many new methods. From a tourism perspective, which places will benefit first from these four routes during the National Day this year?

殷平：I think there is no doubt that the first areas to benefit will be the areas connected by these four lines, such as the Xiaoxing’an Mountains, forest farms, and scenic spots in the Qinba Mountains. Or because this line in the Xiongshang section connects small counties with profound cultural heritage in Henan, Hebei, and Shandong, which have not been recognized by everyone before, or are inaccessible due to inconvenient transportation, because this high-speed rail will definitely bring a lot of traffic.

High-speed rail promotes regional linkage and jointly creates integrated development of culture and tourism

Tourism resources are owned, and tourists do not necessarily care about administrative boundaries when playing. Therefore, to truly play well and make it bigger, you must break the administrative boundaries. How do you really integrate them in reality?

殷平：This is indeed a problem we will see in reality. Due to administrative regional management, especially in border areas, there may be dead ends, or some policies cannot be fully implemented. The era of high-speed rail has broken the shackles of administrative divisions, which requires us to find more cooperation possibilities amid competition.

This kind of cooperation can be based on institutional mechanisms. In fact, some of our previous experiences have already paved the way. We can form some cultural and tourism alliances along the high-speed rail lines, and we can jointly develop this market.

Secondly, a unified brand along the route must be formed. Within the unified brand, everyone can select scenic spots, products and business formats that are suitable for the same theme.

The third point is that under the same brand, service standards and service content must be unified.

Understand the needs of tourists and deepen the quality of fast travel and slow travel

Taking into account the characteristics and psychological state of tourists taking high-speed rail, how can we make good use of new attractions along the line and adapt to tourists’ travel routes and services?

殷平：In these areas along the line, on the one hand, we need to understand the psychology of tourists and travel quickly and slowly. But what everyone ultimately pursues is a unique experience and high-quality service. To achieve this goal, the regions along the line must find their own positioning, because after the high-speed rail is opened, it will have different impacts on different cities, or cities at different stages of development. Some of them have a very large siphon effect, making the strong stronger, and some of them have very important and unique features, so their attractiveness will be strengthened. So one of my suggestions is that local governments along the line should quickly find their own positioning in this high-speed rail network.