20091226 Wuhan-Guangzhou bullet train link to hit airlines hard

clipped from www.chinadaily.com.cn A bullet train runs on the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway on Thursday. Zhou Chao Competition between airlines and rail operators will further hot up on Saturday thanks to the launch of China's longest high-speed train link between Wuhan and Guangzhou. The line stretches more than 1,000 km and will slash the travel time from Wuhan, Hubei province, to Guangzhou in Guangdong from 10 hours to just three. "High-speed rail has three advantages over air travel: it is more convenient, more punctual and has a better safety record. This could help erode the airlines' market shares," said Si Xianmin, chairman of China Southern Airlines, the largest domestic airline by fleet size. China plans to have high-speed rail services running between 70 percent of key cities by 2020, which would cover more than 80 percent of the airline network.