Car-transport train service for Spring Festival available

Workers load a car onto a carriage at Dahongmen Railway Station in Beijing, capital of China, February 10, 2015. Beijing Railway Bureau has opened six special train routes for self-driving passengers during the Spring Festival travel rush. [Photo: Beijing Youth Daily]

Rail officials in Beijing have coined the term "car-carrying train service" to describe the program for this year's Spring Festival.

The now-described "car-carrying train service" is simply the transport of a person's vehicle to their preferred destination by train.

This allows vehicle owners to have their car available for them when they arrive during the Spring Festival holiday, rather than driving the vehicle there themselves.

Li Yuchun lives in Beijing.

He's sending his car ahead of him to Guangzhou.

"I once used motor carriers to transport my car. This is the first time I'll be sending it by train. It's faster. It takes less than a week. If I drive to Guangzhou by myself, it will be terribly tired."

Once Li Yuchun puts his vehicle on the train, it will arrive in Guangzhou 4-days later.

All he needs to pick it up is his ID card, his drivers license, his vehicle registration and the service contract.

For a small car like Li Yuchun's, a one-way package costs 3-thousand yuan from Beijing to Guangzhou.

It will cost him 56-hundred yuan to send his vehicle on a round-trip.

The price does not include his own travel costs to get to Guangzhou.

Zhu Dianping with the Beijing Railway Bureau says there are a number of routes being made available for this holiday.

"We've opened six routes for the Spring Festival. From Beijing, we can send your vehicle to Haikou, Guangzhou, Kunming, Fuzhou, Wenzhou and Harbin. The price is fixed based on the distance and other related services."

To ensure security, all goods loaded in a person's vehicle will have to undergo thorough checks.

Beijing Rail officials do caution that any items you wouldn't be allowed to take on a train yourself won't be allowed in your vehicle.

"Wine with an alcohol content lower than 36 percent is allowed. But only two bottles. For transport security, strong liquors and fragile articles are banned."

The service was first launched in October during the National Day holiday.