Railway freight rate reform has slowly started

Absrtact: The freight rate reform of the lead railway has slowly started. A person close to the China Railway Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the Iron General) said that there was a principled argument for the reform of railway passenger and freight prices, that is, the 2013 State Council issue of reform of the
of railway investment and financing body

Railway freight rate reform has slowly started.





, a person close to the China Railway Corporation, said the railway passenger and freight price reform has a principled view, that is the 2013 State Council issued the "Reform of the railway investment and financing system to accelerate the construction of railway" (Guo (2013)33, The part of the price change referred to in article 33rd.





33rd, said: "Constantly improve the railway tariff mechanism, and steadily rationalize the railway price relationship." Adhere to the market orientation of railway freight rate reform, according to the principle of maintaining reasonable parity between railway and highway, the price of national iron Freight is drawn up, the price level is sorted out, and the dynamic adjustment mechanism of railway freight price changing with the price of highway freight is established. To create conditions to change the price of railway freight from government to government guidance, and increase the flexibility of freight rates. "and pointed out that this is the responsibility of the Development and Reform Commission."





above the iron General Personage said, the overall direction of price change is from the previous planned government pricing into the various operating entities in accordance with market conditions independent pricing. But this is not a market is all right, because the railway transport is related to the national economy, freight to transport a large number of commodities, price fluctuations are too large, will affect the CPI, disrupting the normal economic order, on the other hand, the railway transport with a certain public welfare, freight to transport a large number of military, are carried at very low prices, passenger transport because to take care of students of some special groups and low-income people, also can not choose according to supply and demand in the peak of a rise.





　　




The dilemma of
freight price increase





above the people close to the iron Total said, in fact, the railway freight rate has been in the past few years, freight transport, is to improve the price of a little every year, in February 2014, the NDRC announced the implementation of a unified freight line of the operating lines of freight tariffs to adjust the average tariff level of 1.5 points per This is the nineth time in nearly 10 years to adjust prices (2010 years have not adjusted), the rate of adjustment for nearly 10 years the highest (comparable with 2013).





At present, the market is concerned about whether the price of railway freight continues to rise in early 2015. According to the original plan, the railway freight rate will increase by about 20% in 2-3 years. "In other words, the future railway freight will rise, has been up to meet the above planning reasonable price." ”





reasonable price is to let the railway freight prices to meet the reasonable price of the highway, at present, the relevant departments think the comparison is reasonable 1:3, and the current average freight railway is not yet able to achieve this ratio.





2014 years of freight prices to increase the railway sector increased by more than 30 billion yuan, but the person Tan Chen, according to the current situation, freight prices can be carried out on schedule, whether the increase in price can be increased, are still unknown. The main concern, said the source, is that the current sharp drop in oil prices has led to a significant reduction in the competitive advantage of rail freight compared to highways and civil aviation, as well as a slump in shipments since last year, with shipments falling in 2014 from 1 to October, so if the price of rail freight continues to increase, The railway department is worried that some sources of supply will be diverted to other modes of transport, and it is difficult to predict whether the increase can be achieved.





railway transport situation is increasingly serious, there are two factors, one is the international oil price cliff-style diving causes the highway, the Civil aviation transportation cost to reduce greatly, the railway transportation's relative competitiveness weakens. Second, the macro-economy is relatively depressed, the demand for bulk material transportation is lower, and the railway transportation is low.





Northern, professor of Transport college Hu even pessimistic that the golden age of railway transport has passed, as in the past, a wagon difficult to find the phenomenon will no longer appear, which is due to the opening of a large number of passenger dedicated lines, the original passenger line to freight, greatly increased the supply of freight, on the other hand Industrial transfer makes China's economic appearance change, one production, two production relative to the proportion of three production gradually reduced, resulting in agricultural products, agricultural materials, coal, ore and other bulk materials consumption and demand to reduce, railway transport must open up new customers.





But those close to the iron General also said that the current low price level, CPI entered the "1 Era", which created a certain opportunity for railway freight reform, because do not worry about the price of freight after the increase in commodity prices to affect the overall price.





Passenger Price approach





Actual market price





Passenger price, the NDRC comprehensive Transport Research Institute researcher Dong Ji said that the NDRC to the railway passenger price has the right to decide, but the railway department has a lot of advice, the price of the existing line is long set, to move more difficult, but the new repair line is according to the new method, That is, based on the cost of construction and reasonable return, while referring to other modes of transport pricing, generally, pricing is not too low.





For example, the railway department has just launched the moving-lying ticket, the price is very expensive. The railway department said that from January 1, 2015 to March 15, Shenzhen north-Beijing-west, Shenzhen North-Shanghai Hongqiao will be more than 4 pairs of high-speed rail moving overnight to the train. Shenzhen North-Beijing west the lowest berth ticket price is 999 yuan, the highest ticket price is 2200 yuan, Shenzhen north-Shanghai Hongqiao the lowest berth price is 700 yuan, the highest berth ticket price is 1130 yuan.





and with the four vertical four horizontal high-speed rail network and a large number of intercity passenger, high-speed rail has gradually become the main railway passenger transport, July 1, 2014, the National Railway Adjustment Operation Chart, the railway map is the most significant since 2007. After the map, the total number of passenger trains in the national railway has reached 2447 pairs, of which 1330 pairs of EMU trains, accounted for more than half, become a walking on the railway line of the large force. Iron Total official website information shows that, after the map, Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou, Beijing-Kazakhstan high-speed rail, stone and other professionals, as well as Hangshen and other trunk transport capacity has been expanded. Among them, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail train in the busiest section of the 101 pairs of trains, Gingkenggautie the busiest section of the operation of 100 pairs of trains.





Northern School of Economics and Management Zhao said that as high-speed rail became the mainstream of passenger transport, a large number of fast trains were eliminated off, and the low prices enjoyed by those who rode the cars disappeared.





"In fact, for the railway sector, this is also a matter of course, the high-speed rail opened, and its parallel to the general Speed line if non-stop, will affect the new high iron attendance, and the general speed train can release passenger transport capacity into freight. "Zhao said.





It is through this new line new pricing method, the price of railway passenger transport and civil aviation, the difference between the road is gradually disappearing, close to the actual market price. And with more high-speed rail and the departure of the fast train, the price of the final rail passenger will reach a new level.





One of the main aspects of the railway passenger price reform is that it is possible to achieve differentiated pricing based on different periods of time, different routes, different services and different seats, rather than across. "The current regulation of the NDRC to the railway sector is to reduce the high, that is, the railway department has the right to lower prices, but can not arbitrarily increase." This is actually more reasonable, because when the original pricing, the price is actually the market level. If the railway department is allowed to increase its height, it will be detrimental to the public interest. ”





at present, the railway to try to float the price of passenger transport has been commonplace. For example, from April 14, 2014 onwards, part of the period of the Beijing-Shanghai Gingkenggautie G-word first train tickets began to discount, but most of the discount date from Monday to Thursday when the passenger volume is smaller, weekends and festivals do not discount. And the aforementioned "dynamic Lying" is also the implementation of the floating pricing.





public welfare subsidy or institutionalized arrangement





Railway price reform is another big issue is the public welfare subsidy, 33rd Wen said: To establish railway commonweal, policy transport subsidy system arrangements for social capital to enter the railway to create conditions. For the railway students, disabled soldiers, agricultural materials and emergency rescue and other public transport tasks, as well as Qinghai-Tibet line, south Xinjiang Line and other related public welfare railway business losses, to establish a sound accounting system, to form a reasonable subsidy mechanism. Before straightening out the railway freight rate and establishing the system of public transport accounting, the central government will implement the transitional subsidy to China Railway Corporation in 2013 and the following two years in order to solve the problems of insufficient capital and heavy interest burden of the construction projects of China Railway Corporation.





, who is close to the iron general, said that the transitional subsidy, which was to be implemented in 2014 and 2015, would be a more institutionalized arrangement at the end of each year, based on a review by the Ministry of Finance of the Railways Department, and that the railway sector and the Ministry of Finance were not yet in place.