VietNamNet Bridge – Travel firms have decided to spend big money to upgrade railroads in an effort to persuade more people to travel by railways.
On a train to Lao Cai province |
Despite the great advantages, railway tourism has never attracted medium and
high income travelers because of the inconvenience they may experience when
going by train.
According to Vu Dinh Rau, Head of the Hanoi Railway Station, it served 200,000
passengers on 2012 Tet days in total. The Hanoi station receives 7,000-8,000
passengers who travel on the routes to HCM City, Vinh, Hai Phong and Lao Cai,
with five departures and five arrivals a day.
However, Rau admitted that the available incoming and outgoing trains every day
can only meet 50 percent of the people’s demand. He agrees that it’s necessary
to build up more railroads and trains to serve the increasingly high demand.
However, in the current poor conditions, it’s impossible to have too many
carriages in order to ensure the high quality of services. Especially, since
there are limited rails at the station, having more trains proves to be
impossible.
As a result, long-distance trains have always been full of passengers with
additional plastics seats put on the corridors of the railroads to serve more
clients. These make trains overloaded and cause “traffic jam” right on the
trains.
Travel firms have been repeatedly urged to upgrade railway services to attract
more travelers, because this is really a reasonable means of transport for many
people in the context of the economic recession.
Going on trains could also be the choice for high income travelers, who feel
safe with the tours by land rather than by air. Especially, they don’t have to
pay much for the trips, while they can enjoy the natural landscapes during their
itineraries.
However, travel firms have argued that they alone cannot decide the quality of
railway services. No big changes have been made in recent years, and the
associated tourism services still cannot satisfy travelers.
Travelers have to get by to fit themselves to the small beds; therefore, they
would not feel enjoyable with their trips. At night, when railroads’ windows are
shut, the noise from outside still bothers travelers through the bad
soundproofing windows. In many cases, the 40-50 year-old trains still have been
put in use.
Though the noise is in “oversupply” on train, the loudspeakers do not work.
Therefore, travelers do not know where they are and where they go. Only on some
special trains, travelers can be informed in Vietnamese and English about the
destinations and itineraries, while most of the others cannot.
Travelers have been warned that they should not be surprised, if the arrival
time is one or two hours later than initially expected and if they are not
warned about this.
Especially, no one can feel secure with the food served on the trains. The
limited menus plus the sky high prices prompt people to bring food themselves
instead of using services on the spot.
Travel firms have shown their determination to change the current situation, but
it’s still unclear about how far their determination goes.
They have had carriages painted and interior decoration upgraded. Wooden
furniture, night lamps, fresh flowers have been put on every carriage, while
high quality meals have been offered to travelers.
However, in order to enjoy the services, travelers would have to pay 20 percent
higher than normal passengers, the high fee level that makes travelers consider
thoroughly before making decision.
Ha Yen