The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed passenger railway will run up to 65 train services each way from the current daily total of 33 from 1 July, reported the Wuhan-based Yangtze Daily. There will be 50 daily services each way between Monday and Thursday and 59 between Friday and Sunday, rising to a maximum of 65 trains during peak times such as the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day holidays. Trains will depart every 10-25 minutes.

Passenger capacity on the high-speed service will increase to 83,820 a day. Operators will also be able to add new coaches or services according to demand.

The opening of the high-speed railway has freed space on the existing Wuhan-Guangzhou line for freight, though 100 passenger train services continue to run each way with a daily capacity of 244,984 passengers. Between January and May 2010, the amount of cargo carried on the Wuhan-Guangzhou line to Hunan and Guangdong increased by 21 per cent year-on-year to 65.5m tons. Deputy General Manager of Wuhan Iron and Steel Logistics, Chen Qiao, told the newspaper that over previous Spring Festivals, at least 100 wagons a day carrying the company’s finished products were unable to be dispatched because of the need to transport vast numbers of passengers at that busy time the year. For the first time, in 2010, the company experienced no such hold-ups.

From 1 July, 33 freight services will be added each way, increasing daily capacity by 4,000 wagons or 250,000 tons.

The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, 1,069km long and costing Rmb117bn to build, went into service at the end of December 2009. It will form part of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed line still under construction. With trains on the line running at speeds up to 394kph, it now takes just under four hours to travel between Wuhan and Guangzhou. A hard seat costs Rmb469 and a soft one Rmb749 or Rmb880, depending on the departure time. In comparison, the cheapest direct flight costs about Rmb310.