File Photo: Xinhua

China is piloting “quiet carriages” that prohibit noisy passengers on some high-speed trains from Beijing to Shanghai and Chengdu to Chongqing from Thursday, which was welcome news to  peace-seeking passengers and Chinese netizens.

Passengers can now choose to purchase tickets for ‘quiet carriages’ following the prompts of the ticket system. Car 3 of each train will designated a ‘quiet carriage,’ according to a notice released by China Railway’s WeChat official account.

Passengers are required to follow five rules on the quiet carriages. Passengers must not talk.

When using electronic devices, passengers should use headphones or turn off speakers. Phones must be set to mute or vibrate. Passengers should leave the carriage when making a call or talking to each other. Children travelling with passengers must remain quiet.

“There is a lot of noise in the ordinary carriages and announcements are made at a high volume so they can be heard, which some passengers resent,” Zhao Fei, secretary of the Board of directors of Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway Co., Ltd was quoted by CNR as saying.

According to Zhao, it is a first trial to set up “quiet carriages” in the Chinese mainland. 

The  “quiet carriages” plan triggered heated discussion on China’s Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo. 

“For elderly people who have cardiovascular and cerebral infarction diseases, they surely need a quiet environment,” commented a Weibo user. 

However, some netizens think that they are not necessary. “This is a compromise to uncivilized behavior. I suggest we should set up non-silent carriages for passengers who have the need [to make loud noises] and raise the price of their tickets,” said another.