Ticket prices on the new high-speed rail line linking Beijing and southern Guangzhou City are set in accordance with the market, the Ministry of Railways has said in response to claims they are too expensive.

Rail ministry responds to price critics.[Photo/Chinanews.com]

Tickets for the 2,298-kilometer line, the world's longest high-speed rail line which goes into full operation on Wednesday, start from 865 yuan (US$139). The most expensive seat, in the luxury business lounge, is 2,727 yuan.

In comparison, China Southern Airlines Co, which flies A380 superjumbos on the three-hour route, offers full-price economy tickets at 1,700 yuan excluding fuel surcharge.

"We have taken into consideration passengers' affordability while setting prices. It's normal for someone to think that prices are too high, and we also have people who think the price level is appropriate," said Ma Mingzheng, deputy general manager of the Henan branch of the Beijing-Guangzhou railway.

Ma, speaking during a test run with journalists, also said that rates were on trial basis, and may be subject to adjustment.

Bullet trains on the line can run at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, Xinhua news agency reported, shortening travel time from the capital to the Pearl River Delta to about eight hours from the previous 24.

China is accelerating railway investment again after it introduced new safety measures following a train crash in Wenzhou that killed 40 people in July 2011. Railway investment as of October rose almost 250 percent from a year earlier as the government stepped up fiscal measures to help growth.

"Government-driven investment has quick effects on boosting growth in the short term," Yuan Gangming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "But you can't rely on investment to drive growth forever."

Yuan said China had a "great leap forward" in spending on railways since 2008 and this is expected to "normalize" in coming years with the completion of major lines such as the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed link, Bloomberg News reported.

The line will be extended to Hong Kong in the future, Bloomberg said.

The line winds through major inland Chinese cities, including Wuhan and Zhengzhou and competition from the new line for airlines operating Beijing-Wuhan and Beijing-Zhengzhou flights will be intense, China's state television reported.

China Southern is offering discounts up to 73 percent and Air China is offering a 57 percent discount for flights between Beijing and Wuhan on Wednesday, according to company websites.

The railway ministry didn't publish a total investment amount for the high-speed line because it was developed in parts and then connected. The Wuhan-Guangzhou section, which is 1,069 kilometers long and began operating a year ago, cost 116.6 billion yuan.

The 1,318km Shanghai to Beijing link, which opened in June 2011, cost 220.9 billion yuan.

Zhao Chunlei, deputy head of the ministry's transport bureau, said ticket prices on high-speed lines were at appropriate levels based on a market survey.

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