As Tet nears, people usually rush to buy train tickets to go to their hometowns, but this year ticket sales are very slow.
Around 20,000 train tickets at Saigon Station remain unsold
According to one official report from the Saigon Station, as of December 26, around 20,000 train tickets remain unsold after two months.
The head of the station, Nguyen Van Thanh, said in previous years, train tickets were sold much more easily at this time of year.
Thanh added that one of the major reasons for the lack of sales is that universities have not yet decided on their day-off plans for Tet, so many students are waiting to buy tickets.
According to reporter, though, sluggish ticket sales are concentrated for routes from HCM City to Hue, and as for Hanoi prices remain high.
Tran Thi Que, a worker at the Tan Binh Industrial Park, said this year her family chose not to return to the northern province of Thai Binh by train because a train ticket from HCM City Hanoi has climbed by nearly VND2.1 million (USD100).
One potential customer contradicted this, however, Trung Dung, from Nghe An Province, said the prices of train tickets have increased by 10%, while airfare prices have gone down.
“Last year, I spent VND7 million (USD333.3) for a return plane ticket. But this year the price for a plane ticket is only VND1 million (USD47.6) more than a train ticket. Air travel is also faster and more comfortable," Dung said.
The head of the Saigon Station, Nguyen Van Thanh, commented, “We do not want to raise the prices of train tickets. If trains only serve passengers for long-distance routes, without serving short-distance routes prices would be much cheaper.”
Recently, Vietnam Railways announced that they would stop operations on five rail lines in the northern and central region as of January 1, 2014 because they do not make profits.
An official from Vietnam Railways said they faced fierce competition from other forms of transport. These trains mainly serve passengers who do not want to go by another form of transportation for one reason or another, he said. Many passengers only take trains for trips of 10 kilometres or so and pay fees of around VND10,000 (USD0.5).
Dinh Van Sang, Deputy Director of Saigon Railway Passenger Transport Company, said that the aviation and rail lines should be used for long-distance travel, while other forms of transport should be used for short distances, especially at the lead up to Tet.