Due to the soaring airfare prices, many people are now looking to purchase train tickets as a means of travel during the upcoming April 30th and May 1st holidays. However, many popular routes are nearly fully booked, and train ticket prices for the holidays have also slightly increased.
According to a representative from the Hanoi Railway Transport Company, short-haul routes like Hanoi to Thanh Hoa and Hanoi to Vinh still have available tickets, but passengers are advised to purchase train tickets within the next few days as the availability is limited.
Rising airfare prices make people tend to take holidays by train
For the Hanoi to Thanh Hoa route on April 30th, there are still some remaining seats, with sleeper berth tickets ranging from 220,000 to 286,000 Vietnamese dong per passenger.
However, many popular tourist routes with sleeper berths are almost sold out. Ms. Nguyen Hien from Ha Dong (Hanoi) was looking for tickets for her family holiday in Quang Binh on April 30th and luckily managed to find sleeper berth tickets for her entire family. The air-conditioned sleeper berth tickets are priced quite high, ranging from 728,000 to 892,000 dong per passenger on April 30th. The air-conditioned sleeper berth tickets with four berths are priced even higher, over 1 million dong per person.
In order to leave a bit earlier for a longer holiday, Ms. Hien mentioned that on the Vietnam Railways ticket sales website (dsvn.vn), trains departing from Hanoi to southern provinces on April 26th – 27th such as SE1, SE5, SE11, SE19, and QB1 are fully booked. Trains returning to Hanoi on April 30th – May 1st, such as SE20, SE2, SE6, SE12, and QB2, have almost sold out.
Similarly, high-demand trains for the April 30th holiday from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City are almost fully booked. On the ticket-selling website, fast trains like SE3 and SE4 have around 45 – 50 seats left per trip, mainly soft seats and a few sleeper berths.
Earlier, the Hanoi Railway Transport Company increased its capacity by 60,000 tickets, including both additional and regular trains. The Saigon Railway Transport Company also provided a similar number of tickets. Compared to last year’s April 30th holiday, there is a slight decrease in ticket availability, but tickets are selling faster. This is explained by the high airfare prices, causing passengers to opt for trains more frequently, leading to frequent sold-out trains.
Due to a 6% increase in fuel prices compared to the same period last year, companies have increased ticket prices by 2 – 6% for north-south trains like SE1, SE2, SE5, SE6, and SE19/20 on the Hanoi – Danang route.
The sleeper berth ticket prices from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City with six berths range from 1.3 to nearly 1.7 million dong, and with four berths, they range from 1.5 million dong to a maximum of around 2.7 million dong each way.
The railway sector has increased the operation of a series of train services on many routes to meet passenger travel demands during the April 30th – May 1st holiday.
In addition to the regular train services on routes such as Hanoi – Saigon, Hanoi – Danang, Hue – Danang, Hanoi – Vinh, Hanoi – Lao Cai, and Hanoi – Haiphong, the Hanoi Railway Transport Company is organizing additional train services on various routes.
Specifically, the Hanoi – Dong Hoi (Quang Binh Province) route will operate additional QB1 trains on April 26th – 27th and QB2 trains on April 30th – May 1st. The Hanoi – Vinh (Nghe An Province) route will operate additional NA3 and NA7 trains on April 26th – 27th; NA4 and NA14 trains on April 30th – May 1st; SE35 and SE36 trains from April 25th to May 1st…
@Thanhnien.vn
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Source: Vietnam Insider