Half hour later, an attendant came asking whether I needed something from trolley he was pushing. When I asked whether I need to pay, he nodded. I became annoyed, questioning him when the free breakfast and water would be served. He replied: very soon. In the middle of the three-hour journey, another male attendant came in with a bottle of water and a pack of cookies, instead of a formal breakfast. I was disappointed.

When I was college student traveling between Sichuan and Beijing twenty years ago, taking crowded trains in the summer and winter holidays were nightmares. They were dirty, slow and noisy. And of course, it was hard to get a seat and, on many occasions, we had to stand on foot on such long journey, which took more than 30 hours from Chengdu to Beijing. The service on the train was really terrible in those years.

I had hoped it would be improved on the bullet trains. Maybe my experience is uncommon, but while it was undoubtedly quicker, I don't think mine was value for money.

I experienced the first-class ticket service on a Eurostar train from Brussels to London. The meal, with starter, main course, desert, coffee, tea, is free. The newspaper and magazine are free. And it even offered a taxi booking services on board. Such a journey was memorable, comparable to traveling business class on a flight.

Europe has only 6,000 km of high-speed railways, less than half that of China's high-speed rail network. Premier Li said in the annual work report last week, that China will maintain the momentum, aiming to invest 800 billion yuan ($130 billion) to construct more than 8,000 km of railways in 2015.

While the hardware is undoubtedly excellent, China needs to improve the quality of service on the trains if this sector wants to stand out in competing with the airlines.

The author is deputy chief of China Daily EuropeanUnion Bureau. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn