With the 2014 Spring Festival Rush started on January 16th, Yichang East Railway Station will intensively operate multiple temporary trains of "G" high-speed rail and "D" bullet trains. The total arriving and originating trains reached to 132 and the passenger volume reached to 54,000 on the same day with 4% increased if compared to the same period in last year. The inbound passengers were mainly from Beijing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Nanjing and some other places, and the outbound passengers focused on Wuhan direction, Lichuan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Dazhou and other directions. The most immediate change felt by passengers is the faster running, larger carrying capacity and higher ride quality.

　　This change mainly results from another greater range of adjustment organized by Railway department on December 28, 2013. At the end of last year, multiple train lines and high-speed rail lines were opened on a national scale at the same time. They were as follows: Tianjin-Qinhuangdao Passenger Railway, Chongqing-Lichuan Railway, Xi\'an-Baoji Passenger Railway, Xiamen-Shenzhen High Speed Railway, Hengyang-LiuHou Passenger Railway, Liuzhou-Nanning Passenger Railway, Guangxi coastal area Passenger Railway (which included Nanning to Qinzhou, Beihai and Fangchenggang) and etc. It is these new lines that make China\'s "four vertical and four horizontal" long distance railway and passenger lines (such as Huhanrong passenger railway, Xuzhou-Lanzhou High-speed Railway, and the southeast coastal rail line) to be completed and extended.

　　Then what kind of influence has been exerted upon Yichang\'s position in the national railway line network? And what kinds of benefits would Yichang citizen get from this adjustment?

　　Yichang East Railway Station has become a hub for high-speed rail map.

　　On December 28, 2013, with the Chongqing-Lichuan Railway put into operation on schedule, the Shanghai - Nanjing - Wuhan - Chongqing - Chengdu railway was successfully completed as part of China\'s "four vertical and four horizontal" high-speed rail network. The Yichang-Shenzhen high-speed rail opened on the same day has strengthened the relationship between Yichang and the Pearl River Delta\'s Economic Areas. Meanwhile, Yichang East Railway Station has become the hub of the high-speed rail map instantly instead of the peripheral one. The high-speed rail map, which started from Yichang significantly, is extends to north and south directions while the accessible cities are substantial increased. For now, the bullet trains direct to Beijing West, Shanghai Hongqiao, Nanjing South, Hangzhou East and etc have been put into operation. Harbin is the northernmost place we can arrive through transferring, and Shenzhen is the southernmost place we can reach directly. Hence Yichang citizens will have more choices to visit Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

　　Now, visitors can enjoy the charming winter morning in Yichang and the gentle spring night in Shenzhen within one day. At 9:00 on December 28th, 2013, the "G" high-speed rail "G1024/1 and G2011/3", starting from Yichang East Station and stopping at Shenzhen North Station at 16:54, were officially put into operation, and the entire running time took 7 hours and 54 minutes, 6 hours and 42 minutes less if compared with the original train "Z24 / 1 (which took 14 hours and 36 minutes)". It is known that this high-speed rail trip\'s first-class tickets cost 953.5 yuan, second class tickets fare is 632 yuan, and the business class tickets fare is 1,945.5 yuan. In normal times, because of long time, disadvantaged fare compared with the discounted air tickets and some other reasons, the attendance of long-distance bullet trains are not always high. However, during the Spring Festival, due to the full fare air tickets, the long-distance bullet train tickets are relatively welcomed by passengers.

　　After the adjustment, the originating station of the high-speed rail from Wuhan to Shenzhen North Station will be extended to Yichang East Station. The opening of the Yichang-Shenzhen high-speed rail before the Spring Festival Rush can play a positive role in alleviating the traffic pressures exerted by passengers who will travel from the direction of Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Sichuan, and meet the needs of high-income passengers as well. Meanwhile, the running section of original Yichang East Station-Shenzhen train "Z22/3 and Z24/1" has changed into Wuchang-Shenzhen train.

　　It is learned that the Yichang-Wanzhou railway will not be opened to bullet trains in this time, therefore, the Sichuan-Chongqing direct bullet trains will also not be put into operation. In order to help passengers in Yichang who want to take the bullet trains in Lichuan to Sichuan and Chongqing quickly, Wuhan Railway Bureau specifically has arranged the bullet train Hankou - Yichang East Station D5817 and train Yichang East Station - Lichuan K8065 to be interchanged at the same platform at Yichang East Railway Station, thus saving passengers\' waiting time of entry and exit the station. After taking the joint-way trains to Lichuan, passengers can take bullet train D2261 to Chongqing. Guo Bing, deputy trainmaster of Yichang Train Depot, said, "The great development of Yichang Railway in recent years is mainly due to the Hu-han-rong Passenger Railway in China\'s \'four vertical and four horizontal\' plan, thus enhancing the passenger carrying capacity of Sichuan-Chongqing region to East Area. In this year, the Yichang-Lichuan bullet train will strive to be put into operation." He introduced that because of the Yichang-Wanzhou rail line was not designed as the standard passenger line, so the passenger carrying capacity of Yichang-Wanzhou line is far behind the standard for bulletin train track equipment and train equipment. However, with Chongqing-Lichuan railway opened, Yichang Train Depot is embarking on the preparation of Yichang East Station-Lichuan bullet train line. Under the premise of ensuring safety, the Yichang East Station-Lichuan bullet train will be opened if the conditions permit in this year.

　　It is reported that in 2014, passengers travelling through the whole section of Yichang Train Depot will reach 218 million during the Spring Festival, with 10.6 million passengers increased if compared with that in 2013 Spring Festival Rush, growing by 6% year on year, and the average daily passengers are 54,500. Among them, the Yichang East Railway Station is expected to send 110 million passengers with 80,000 increased over last year. The growing rate is 8% which accounts for 51% of the total dispatched passenger number in the whole sections during the Spring Festival Rush. After the holiday, the daily dispatched passenger number of Yichang East Railway Station is expected to reach about 45,000.

　　The railway transportation of Yichang is of "higher speed, greater capacity and better quality"

　　It is learned that on December 28, 2013, Xi\'an to Baoji high-speed rail, Liuzhou to Nanning PDL, Hengyang to Liuzhou railway and Chongqing to Lichuan railway are open to the public. Up until now, China\'s total rail length hits 100,000 km. There are over 40,000 km rail bearing the train speed of more than 120 kilometers per hour, over 20,000 km bearing the speed of more than 160 kilometers per hour and 10,000 kilometers bearing the speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour. In the railway network, the rail length in West China surges to 38,000 km, taking up 36.9% of the total.

　　Influenced by the new CRH through trains, some schedules, groupings and crossings of the CRH trains from Hankou to Yichang are modified, and the passenger trains increases to 42 pairs, 4 pairs more than before. According to a staff of Yichang Section, the green trains (the typical old non-air-conditioned trains in China) are flushed out while all the normal speed trains are equipped with air-conditioning system during the Spring Festival.

　　According to the passengers\' travel demand, high-speed rail working graph, as usual, is divided into three parts--the ordinary, the weekend and the peak. The peak working graph corresponds to the Spring Festival, summer holiday, Golden Week and other short holiday periods. The weekend working graph applies to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the ordinary working graph covers from Monday to Thursday. Meanwhile, the old passenger train working graphs are optimized.

　　Guo Bing, deputy crew chief of Yichang section, indicates that the“12.28” working graph adjustment guarantees railway transportation in Yichang with “higher speed, greater capacity and better quality". It saves nearly half of the running time for the train G1024 / 1 from Yichang East Railway Station to Shenzhen North Railway Station. Due to Chongqing -Lichuang railway, it saves 5 hours running time from Yichang East Railway Station to Chengdu Railway Station, 4 hours from Yichang East Railway Station to Chongqing Railway Station and 2 hours 32 minutes from Yichang East Railway Station to Beijing West Station after the adjustment. Moreover, the route of the train K628 from Yichang East Railway Station to Xi\'an Railway Station is changed, making the through transportation from Yichang to Shiyan, Wudangshan and Ankang possible, and meanwhile shortening the running time by 3 hours 3 minutes.

　　After the adjustment, passenger trains of Yichang East Railway Station increase from 63 pairs to 66 pairs, the capacity of CHR trains to Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, Hangzhou East Railway Station, Nanjing South Railway Station increases by 3100 people and the total capacity will reach 4.2 million people, which is greater than before.

　　Owing to the new high-speed rail trains of Shenzhen North Station, high-speed trains from Yichang East Railway Station to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are available, which offers more choices, better compartment environment and wonderful rail transportation.

　　More places easy to go by train from Yichang

　　Apart from the changes in the routes from Yichang to Shenzhen and Yichang to Chongqing / Chengdu, in the adjustment, there are new CHR trains from Harbin West Station, Changchun Station, Shenyang North Railway Station to Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, Ningbo Railway Station, Qingdao North Railway Station and Jinan West Railway Station, and the long-distance interline CHR trains from Beijing West Railway Station to Guilin Railway Station, Qingdao Railway Station, Jinan Railway Station, Guangzhou South Railway Station. With the completion of these high-speed rail network nodes, the network of the "four vertical and four horizontal railways” is formally established, which benefits Yichang a lot at the same time.

　　It only takes Yichang citizens 5 hours to go to Jinan, 4 to 5 hours to Xi’an, 6.5hours to Fuzhou and 5 hours to Guilin by transferring at Wuhan Railway Stations. One can also transfer at Jinan Railway Station, Tianjin Railway Station and Beijing West Railway Station to take the high-speed rail trains to Harbin Railway Station, Changchun Railway Station and Shenyang North Railway Station.

　　The two-day train journey from Yichang to the three northeastern provinces 2,300 kilometers far away is lessened to less than one day. For example, it took 28 to 38 hours to travel by train from Yichang to Harbin in the past, but now, people can first take Yichang-Beijing high-speed rail trains and then transfer to Beijing-Harbin high-speed rail trains, which takes only 15 hours. Besides, the travel time from Yichang to Dalian is reduced from 32 hours to 14 hours.

　　It is reported that the adjustment is tailored for the transportation during Spring Festival. In addition to a number of new routes, some long-distance interline CHR trains start servicing in the adjustment with the aim at making full use of high-speed rail to realize through transportation for some of the passengers who must transfer halfway in previous years, making travel more convenient, smoother, and more comfortable.