Society

Railway sector slashes fares to woo passengers

Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC) will knock up to 50 percent off the fares for passengers buying tickets two months ahead of departure and increase stops of certain north-south trains from next month to offer more conveniences to passengers, a local newspaper reported.
Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC) will knock up to 50 percent off thefares for passengers buying tickets two months ahead of departure andincrease stops of certain north-south trains from next month to offermore conveniences to passengers, a local newspaper reported.

Thefares will be discounted by 6-12 percent on average for the north-southtrains departing from September 4 to December 31 this year, according tothe Saigon Times Daily.

However, customers who buy tickets forthe trips of over 1,300 kilometres and two months before departure willenjoy a 50 percent discount while those booking the tickets from 30 to59 days ahead of departure will be entitled to a 30 percent discount.

Passengers will be provided with more choices for stops on the north-south line from September 4.

Accordingly,trains SE1 and SE2 will stop at the extra stations of Tuy Hoa, BongSon, Huong Pho, Yen Trung and Cho Sy, while trains SE3 and SE4 will stopat Bien Hoa, Thap Cham, Tam Ky, Huong Pho, Yen Trung, Thanh Hoa, NinhBinh, Nam Dinh and Phu Ly. Trains SE7 and SE8 will add Tam Ky, Yen Trungand Cho Sy stations to the itinerary.

The additional stops ofnorth-south Train TN1 will be Phu Cang, Duc Pho, Ninh Hoa and Ma Lamstations, while those of Train TN2 will be Ma Lam, Ninh Hoa, Gia, DucPho and Phu Cang station. Trains SE21 and SE22 will have more five stopsincluding Ma Lam, Nga Ba, Song Mao, Gia, and La Hai.

Earlierthis year, Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang urged the railway sectorto improve services and lower fares to make it affordable for morepassengers as many fares of the north-south trains are higher than thoseoffered by local low-cost airlines.

From this November VRC will sell tickets online under a deal recently signed with FTP-FIS-TeleHouse joint venture.

Startedon July 31, the 197 billion VND (9.3 million USD) project will helpinstall and perfect the online-selling systems by November 2015, makingthe service available on VRC website, vending machines at train stationsor agents nationwide, VRC Deputy General Director Doi Sy Hung saidrecently.

Currently, railway transport accounts for only 0.5percent of the total passenger transport market and 1 percent of totalfreight transport.

The sector plans to raise the rates to 13 percent of passenger transport and 14 percent of freight transport by 2020.-VNA
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