A first-class sleeper cabin is equipped with a sofa on the new bullet train from Shanghai to Chengdu. [Photo/Oriental Morning Post]

A ticket for a train journey that takes 15 and a half hours from Shanghai to Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, is being sold at a top price of 2,330 yuan ($356.66), the Oriental Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

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A new bullet train will be added to the schedule on Jan 11, 2011. Prices range from 501 yuan ($75.61) for a second-class soft seat to 2,330 yuan for a first-class soft berth, which is being sold at a 30 percent discount, said the report.

As Shanghai has a great number of migrant workers from Sichuan province and its neighboring Chongqing municipality, more trains have been added for the annual Spring Festival. However, of the 618 seats on each train, 496 are soft sleepers that cost more than 1,000 yuan (about $151). Each soft berth has an individual television and air conditioner. First-class sleeper cabins are even equipped with sofas and wardrobes.

Sun Zhang, a professor from the Transportation Engineering School of Tongji University in Shanghai, criticized the exorbitant prices. To many people, it is very tough to get a train ticket during the Spring Festival period, while the high costs would be prohibitive and attract few people to buy, he said.

According to the report, an economy class flight from Shanghai to Chengdu is about 1,500 yuan ($226.37).

Every soft berth has an individual television on the new bullet train from Shanghai to Chengdu.[Photo/Oriental Morning Post]