"I just can't accept the idea of sleeping inside a cubical next to some guys I don't know. It would feel so unsafe and uncomfortable," said Ruan Chenji, a 25 year-old single woman from Shanghai. And now when she travels between Shanghai and Beijing by train, she won’t have to.
The Ministry of Railways ordered gender-restricted sleepers to be made available to women who want them. And, as a result, on February 6th Women-Only Berths hit the rails. Ministry officials said the berths are the result of trying to improve service for their women passengers. Presently the sleepers are only available on two of the five high-speed trains between the two cities with only two compartments (four beds each) set aside for this purpose. Surprisingly no one has yet to take advantage of these testosterone-free compartments but as word gets around – the berths are not being promoted by the railways -- I’ve no doubt they will become quite popular.
Cost of the female-only compartments for those women who don’t want to share their slumber space with strange men is approximately 500 yuan (62USD), the same as the beds in mixed company. Of course, not all women will want to be cloistered on the long trip. It can, after all, be fun to meet new people.
What’s next? Xie Ye, a 29-year-old Shanghai man who is a frequent train passenger suggests "Why not also offer carriages in which single men and women can travel together? I think that would be a blessing for single people like me." We will see, Xie, we will see.
