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Train operator in
China:
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Chinese
Railways. Train times in English:
www.chinatravelguide.com.
Map of Chinese railways. Official sites
(in Chinese): www.chinamor.cn.net
& www.tielu.org.
Agencies selling Chinese train tickets online:
www.chinatripadvisor.com,
www.chinatraintickets.net, www.china-train-ticket.com.
www.train-ticket.net sells
train tickets for Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Hong Kong &
Shanghai-Hong Kong.
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (local trains in Hong
Kong plus through trains HK to Beijing
& Shanghai): www.kcrc.com.
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Time: |
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GMT+8 all year.
Flights to China |
Currency: |
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£1 = 9.9 Yuan (Renminbi). $1 = 6.8
Yuan. Currency converter |
Tourist information: |
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www.cnto.org
(US),
www.cnto.org.uk
(UK),
www.cnto.org.au
(Aus).
Tripadvisor |
Hotels & hostels: |
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Book hotels in China online
Tripadvisor recommendations
Backpacker hostels |
Visas: |
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UK & most other citizens need a visa for China, see www.chinese-embassy.org.uk.
Visa section of the Chinese embassy in London: 31 Portland Place, London
W1B 1QD, telephone 020 7631 1430.
Important: Visa
regulations changed in March 2008, making it more difficult to
get a
visa, for example requiring a confirmed return ticket into &
out of China
plus confirmed hotel bookings for
every night in China. It was reported in late 2008 that requirements have been
relaxed again after the Olympics, but please check!
More advice on Chinese visas. |
Page last updated: |
|
1 July 2009 |
Travelling by train in China...
|
|
|
The entrance to the Forbidden City, Beijing... |
China has one of the biggest
and busiest rail networks in the world, and trains link
almost every town & city. Chinese trains are a safe,
comfortable & cheap way to travel around China, and a
Chinese train journey is an experience in itself, a total
contrast with environmentally-unfriendly internal flights. This page will help you
understand & plan train travel in China, & arrange your
tickets.
On this page...
Train times & fares for main train
routes in China
What are Chinese
trains like?
How to buy tickets
Ferries from China to Japan
Recommended guidebooks for China
On other pages...
London & Moscow to Beijing by
Trans-Siberian Railway
Beijing or Nanning to Hanoi & Saigon (Vietnam)
Hong Kong to Hanoi & Saigon (Vietnam)
Saigon to Phnom Penh to Bangkok by
bus & train
Bangkok to Singapore by
train
Lhasa to
Kathmandu by bus and on to to Delhi
Sponsored links:
Train times, fares & recommended trains for key routes in
China...
Maps of Chinese train routes:
www.johomaps.com/as/china/chinarail.html &
www.nordling.nu/schaefer/chinamap.gif
Map of Beijing Metro:
Click for map. Shows Beijing Main (Zhan) and
Beijing West (Xi) mainline stations.
Thomas
Cook Overseas Timetable...
Train times & route maps for
almost
all mainline Chinese trains are shown in the famous Thomas Cook Overseas Timetable,
probably the most adventurous timetable ever published.
It's updated every two months, and has currency, visa and
other travel information as well as timetables for ferries,
buses & trains in China
and all other countries in Asia, Africa, the Americas &
Australasia. It
costs £13.99 from the bureau de change inside any UK branch
of Thomas Cook, or you can buy online at
www.thomascooktimetables.com with worldwide delivery.
Alternatively, you can
buy the twice-yearly Independent Traveller's edition
at Amazon.co.uk also with shipping worldwide.
Printed
train timetables for China...
As well as his
free summary timetable, Duncan Peattie
produces an
excellent English translation of the whole Chinese Railways
national timetable, available by email from
mail@chinatt.org.
This costs about £9 (US$18 or 15 Euro) in .pdf format, or
£15-18 (US$30-36 or 25-30 Euros) in printed format
(including postage). It covers all trains in the
national timetable between some 850 stations. For more
information, see
www.chinatt.org.
Chinese
trains link virtually all main cities and towns in China,
and are a safe, comfortable & civilised way to travel, even
for families or women travelling alone.
Classes of
seat & sleeper...
Chinese trains
generally have 4 classes:
-
Soft sleeper:
Most western travellers travel soft sleeper, a comfortable,
civilised & affordable way to travel. Soft sleepers
are spacious 4-berth compartments with two upper & two lower
berths by night, converting to two sofas for daytime use.
All necessary bedding is provided. There's a table
with tablecloth, and usually a vacuum flask of hot water for
making tea (or drinking chocolate or cuppas soups if you've
brought some). The compartment door locks securely,
and a smartly-dressed attendant looks after each car.
The best trains even feature individual TV screens and power
sockets for laptops & mobiles.
-
Hard sleeper:
If you're on a tight budget, there's no reason why you
shouldn't go hard sleeper, as many western backpackers do.
Hard sleeper consists of open-plan carriages with a broad
aisle on one side of the car, bays of 6 bunks (upper, middle
& lower) on the other side. In spite of the name, hard
sleeper bunks are reasonably well padded, and bedding is
supplied. Newer trains even have power sockets for
laptops & mobiles.
-
Soft & hard
seat: Equivalent to first & second class on a
European train. Short distance daytime trains often
only have hard class seats, though some inter-city trains
also have soft class seats.
-
Deluxe soft
sleeper: In addition to the four normal classes, a
handful of trains also have deluxe soft sleepers, include
Beijing-Hong Kong, Beijing-Shanghai & Beijing-Xian.
These are 2-berth compartments with private toilet.
There are only limited numbers of these 2-berth compartments
are available, often booked by government officials, so by
all means ask for one but don't bang your head against a
brick wall trying to get one, be prepared to travel in
normal 4-berth soft class if necessary. Sharing a
4-berth really isn't a problem, it's the norm in China, and
you might even meet some real Chinese people this way.
-
Not all trains
have all classes - for example, the best Beijing-Shanghai
trains are soft-sleeper-only.
Restaurant
cars, toilets...
-
Toilets: Chinese trains generally have both western & 'squat'
toilets, but it's always a good idea to take your own supply of toilet paper.
The toilets on the modern D & Z category trains are
immaculate, so no worries there!
-
Restaurant
cars: Most long-distance trains have a restaurant
car, with waiter service of drinks, snacks & meals.
The best trains on key routes such as Beijing-Shanghai have
menus in both Chinese and English.
Categories of
train...
Chinese train
numbers usually start with a letter, which indicates the
category of train. The better the category of train,
the faster it is likely to be, and the more modern &
comfortable the carriages
are likely to be. Slightly higher fares are charged for
the better train categories.
-
C & D trains
(modern high-speed daytime & sleeper trains): These are top-quality high-speed
trains with ultra-modern air-conditioned coaches and
streamlined power-cars at each end. Some are
200-300km/h daytime electric trains, a few D-trains are top-quality
200km/h sleeper trains.
Photos
of D category sleeper train.
-
Z trains
(high-quality express sleeper trains):
The previous top-quality sleeper train, the 'Z' trains are
now the second best, but still with very modern
air-conditioned coaches.
Photos of Z category sleeper train
-
T trains
('extra fast'): Trains with a 'T' in the train
number are the next best category, see the photos below.
-
K trains
('fast'): Trains with a 'K' in the train number
are 'fast'. Slightly higher fares are charged for
better categories of train.
'T' &
'K' category trains may not be as glamorous as the front-rank
'D' or 'Z'
category trains, but even these T or K trains are
usually very comfortable, often modern &
air-conditioned.
 |
|
 |
|
A
typical 'T' or 'K' category long-distance express... |
|
The restaurant car... |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
Soft
sleeper consists
of spacious carpeted & lockable 4-berth compartments,
with
toilets & washrooms at the end of the corridor.
Note the lacy decor & flower in a vase on the tablecloth!
Some trains even have personal TV screens for each
berth. Photos courtesy of Shuhei Terashima
|
|
Hard sleeper
consists of open bays of 6 bunks (upper, middle & lower) on
one side of an aisle. In spite of its name, berths are
padded, bedding is supplied, and many budget western
travellers prefer it. There are fold-out seats in the
aisle either side of small tables. Photos courtesy
of Gabriel Chew. |
Finding &
boarding your train...
Always arrive
at the station in plenty of time before the departure of
your train. In major cities, especially Beijing, stations can be large and
busy, and it may take a while to find your train. At
major stations such as in Beijing or Shanghai there are security checks (including
airline-style X-ray luggage checks) to go through before boarding.
Departure indicators may be in Chinese, but you can easily
find your train if you know the train number and departure
time.
Boarding trains in Beijing...
| |
Above: The lesser-known Beijing South
Station is now the place to catch the high-speed daytime
'C' & 'D' category trains from Beijing to Shanghai or
Tianjin... Photo courtesy of Gabriel Chew |
There are two
major stations in Beijing, Beijing Main (metro Bejingzhan)
and Beijing West (also called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro
Junshibowuguan). Trans-Siberian trains to Moscow &
Ulan Bator use Beijing Main, as do most trains to Shanghai.
The direct train to Hong Kong and trains to Xian, Guangzhou
& Tibet all use Beijing's newer West station. The
daytime high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai now uses
the little-known Beijing South station.
-
Both Beijing
Main & West stations are large and busy, and some people find them
confusing. So arrive in plenty of time for your train!
-
When you reach
the station, you must first go through airport-style
security controls into the departure area.
-
For soft
sleeper travel, you must then find the appropriate waiting
lounge for your train. There are a number of different
waiting lounges, and the electronic message boards show
which is the right one for each specific train.
Tickets are checked on entering the lounge, so you can be
sure you are in the right place.
-
Inside the
lounge, the electronic message boards show the trains
departing from that lounge, for the next 24 hours.
Trains are usually allocated between lounges so there is ½
hour or more between each departure from that lounge.
-
Most trains are shown as
'on time', but the most immediate
departures are shown as 'waiting'. Once a train is ready for
boarding (normally about 30 minutes before departure) it is shown as
'check in', meaning you can proceed through ticket control
to the platform. About 5 minutes before departure the
barrier is closed and the train is shown as 'check out'.
How to buy
tickets at the station...
-
It's easy to buy
tickets yourself at the station, but remember to take your
passport with you.
-
In
big cities such as Beijing or Shanghai you should look for the
special ticket window for foreigners.
-
Reservations for the best
D- or Z-category express trains open
10-20
days before departure, but reservations for other trains
only open
5-10 days before departure. You cannot buy tickets
before reservations open. If the train you
want starts its journey somewhere else and calls at your
boarding station already well into its journey, tickets may
only be available 2 days before departure. The exact rules vary
by city and by train.
-
Chinese
Railways don't have a central reservation system, only local
computer reservation systems based in each city that aren't
linked to each other. So a station can generally only
sell you a ticket for a journey starting at that station,
not for journeys starting elsewhere. For example, the
ticket office at Shanghai can sell
you a Shanghai-Beijing ticket but cannot sell you a Beijing-Xian ticket.
However, at major cities you can sometimes buy a return
ticket for key routes - for example, in Beijing you can buy
a ticket from Beijing to Shanghai and also from Shanghai
back to Beijing. But in most cases, you'll need to
book your return journey when you get to your destination.
-
Tickets are best
booked at least 2-3 days in advance, apart from peak periods (the
Spring Festival, May Day 1st May, National Day 1st October) when
they should be booked as soon as reservations open.
-
In Beijing, you
can buy tickets at Beijing Main station (metro Bejingzhan), or Beijing West
station (called Beijing Xi or Xizhan, metro
Junshibowuguan sometimes called 'Military Museum'). At
Beijing Main station, the ticketing office for foreigners is
on the north west corner of the 1st floor, accessed via the
soft seat waiting room. It is open 05:30-07:30,
08:00-18:30, 19:00-23:00. Only domestic Chinese
tickets are sold, not international tickets. At
Beijing West station, ticket window 1 in the main hall is
marked 'English speaking', open 24 hours. Service here
is reported as 'fluent & efficient'. Alternatively, you can buy train
tickets at BTG Travel & Tours, on Fwai Dajie between the New
Otani and Gloria Plaza Hotels, open 08:00-20:00. To
buy Trans-Siberian tickets from Beijing to Ulan Bator or
Moscow,
see the Trans-Siberian page. To buy tickets from
Beijing to Hanoi,
see
the Vietnam page.
-
In Shanghai,
the English speaking ticket window at the main station was
window 43 though this has now (2009) been reported as
changed to window 10 on the ground floor of the main ticket
office to the southeast of the main station.
How to buy tickets
from outside China...
There are several ways
to arrange Chinese train tickets from outside China. Just remember
that reservations for the best D- & Z-category express trains
open 20 days in advance, but for most other trains bookings
only open 5-10 days before departure. Even an agency
cannot positively confirm your booking before reservations
open and they buy your ticket!
1.
Ask your
hotel...
This may well be the cheapest & easiest option. Book a
hotel, and ask them to arrange train tickets for you.
Many hotels will do this for you for a small fee, perhaps
RMB 50.
If you want to book a
Chinese train in advance from outside China, you can do this with several
agencies, including
www.chinatripadvisor.com,
www.chinatraintickets.net or www.china-train-ticket.com.
Tickets cannot be posted abroad, but can be delivered to your hotel
in China to be picked up when you get there. This will
cost more than you'd pay at the ticket office, but if you
really need to be on a particular train on a particular date, it can
be worth booking ahead, especially at peak times, such as around the
time of the the Spring Festival, 1st May, or 1st October.
Fares are shown below. All these agencies are reputable, and chinatripadvisor has been recommended by at least one seat61
correspondent. If you have any feedback from using
either of these agencies, please
e-mail me.
Buying tickets for departures from Hong Kong...
You can book
departures from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai by email at the
official (cheap!) ticket office price through KCRC (Kowloon Canton Railway Corporation)
Customer Services. Visit their website at
www.mtr.com.hk (click
'customer site' then 'intercity passenger services' then 'more
information'. Note that the online booking system on their
intercity trains home page is only for the HK to Guangzhou
intercity trains, for the Beijing & Shanghai through trains you'll
need to email their customer services department. When
looking up times and fares on their website, remember that Hong
Kong is shown as 'Hung Hom').
You will be given a reference number and can then pick up and pay
for tickets at Hong Kong's 'Hung Hom' station in Kowloon. Note
that Hong Kong ticket office does not accept credit cards, only
cash. However, there is an ATM just round the corner from the
station.
Here
are train
times & fares for the most important routes in China.
You
can check times for other routes at
www.chinatravelguide.com.
The best way to
travel between Beijing & Shanghai is by train. Choose
between a high-speed daytime train or a time-effective
overnight sleeper. A sleeper train is far superior to
any flight and actually saves time (and a hotel bill)
compared to flying. It's also an experience.
Beijing ► Shanghai
| |
|
| Train number: |
D31 |
Z21
|
T109
|
D301 |
D305 |
T103
|
Train number: |
D32 |
Z22 |
T104 |
T110 |
D302 |
D306 |
| Beijing (main)
depart |
11:05* (day
1) |
19:44 (day 1) |
22:15 |
21:35 |
21:40 |
22:09 |
Shanghai
depart |
10:50 day 1 |
19:43 day 1 |
21:58 |
22:04 |
21:46 |
21:26 |
| Shanghai
arrive |
20:49 (day
1) |
07:15 (day
2) |
12:12
|
07:39 |
07:44 |
11:08
|
Beijing
(main) arrive |
20:32* day 1 |
07:14
day 2 |
11:17
|
11:23
|
07:45
|
07:30
|
Beijing to Shanghai
is 1,463 km (914 miles). All trains shown here are daily.
* D31/D32 arrives/departs Beijing South, not main.
Which train should you take?
Trains D301, D302, D306, D305: These
are the recommended sleeper trains. Immaculate brand-new 200km/h
sleeper trains introduced in December 2008, with 4-berth soft sleepers &
restaurant/bar car. Fully air-conditioned, each sleeper berth even has its
own TV screen & there are power sockets for laptops or mobiles. Expect these trains
to be very punctual.
See the D-category sleeper photos below. There are no 2-berth sleepers
on this train. There is also now a similar D314 & D313,
running to very similar timings though not shown here to save space.
Trains D31 & D32:
Recommended daytime train. Departs from/ arrives at Beijing South
station, not the main station,
see metro map. This is a new D-category 200-250 km/h express electric train, introduced in April
2007. It has 1st & 2nd class seats and bar-restaurant car. 1st class seats are 2-abreast
each side of the aisle, 2nd class seats are 3-abreast one side, 2 abreast the
other.
Photographs of this train, inside
& out.
There are also photo on the
Beijing-Shanghai train page of
www.chinatripadvisor.com.
Trains Z21-Z22: These
are the next best sleeper trains and still excellent, see
the Z-category sleeper photos below. These
trains are soft class only (no hard class), with modern top-quality
air-conditioned sleeping-cars and bar-restaurant car (with menus in Chinese and
English).
Expect them to be punctual. Each sleeping berths has its own TV, and there
are power sockets for laptops & mobiles.
Sleeper compartments are 4-berth, there are no 2-berth sleepers on these trains.
Train T109 & T110 has deluxe
2-berth compartments with private toilet & washroom as well as normal soft & hard
sleepers. As there are now no
2-berth deluxe sleepers on any of the 'Z' category trains, so if you insist on a
2-berth you'll need to use this train. Train T103 & T104 has soft &
hard sleepers. If you are on a tight budget and want to save money, travel
hard sleeper on one of these slower 'T' category trains. Hard sleeper is
still a comfortable and safe way to travel.
See the T category train photos above.
Fares
|
|
Beijing-Shanghai one-way
per person |
By
sleeper train... |
Deluxe sleeper
(only T109/110) |
By D-category
daytime train... |
|
Hard sleeper |
Soft sleeper |
Soft class seat |
Hard class seat |
|
Bought at
reservations office in China: |
RMB 350 ($46) |
RMB 500 ($66) |
RMB 921 ($122) |
? |
RMB 327 ($44)
|
|
Booked in advance
at
www.chinatripadvisor.com: |
$65 |
$95 |
$165 |
$81 |
$69 |
|
Booked in advance
at
www.china-train-ticket.com: |
$100 |
$130 |
$195 |
? |
? |
Children
under 110cm tall travel free, 110-140cm tall travel for half
fare, over 140cm tall pay full fare.
How to buy tickets
 |
|
 |
| Above:
Train D302 about to leave Shanghai for Beijing. Even if
you can't read Chinese, the departure indicator clearly
shows the train number & departure time.
Photo courtesy of James
Fletcher |
|
Above: 4-berth
soft sleeper on train D302. Each berth has an
individual TV screen and all bedding is supplied.
There are power sockets for laptop & mobiles.
Clean western-style toilets are at the end of the
corridor.
Photo courtesy of James Fletcher |
 |
|
 |
| Above:
Restaurant on train D302.
Photo courtesy of James
Fletcher |
|
Above:
Bar on train D302.
Photo courtesy of James Fletcher |
The best way to
travel between Beijing & Xian is by train, using a
time-effective sleeper train.
Beijing
► Xian
|
|
Xian
► Beijing
|
|
Train number: |
T41 |
T231 |
T43 ** |
Z19 * |
Z53* |
|
Train number |
T232 |
T42 |
Z54 * |
Z20 * |
T44 ** |
|
| Beijing (West) |
depart |
16:43 |
16:55 |
20:30 |
21:24 |
21:18 |
day 1 |
Xian |
depart |
20:40 |
18:42 |
20:10 |
20:16 |
20:34 |
day 1 |
| Xian |
arrive |
05:22 |
06:42 |
07:40 |
08:25 |
08:19 |
day 2 |
Beijing (West) |
arrive |
09:06 |
06:22 |
07:20 |
07:17 |
07:40 |
day 2 |
* recommended trains,
see the photos below. These superb trains
have top-quality air-conditioned sleeping-cars, far
superior to any flight and saves time over flying, too.
This train is soft class only (no hard class) with 4-berth
soft class sleepers, restaurant car (with menu in
Chinese and English, beer a reasonable RMB15, the crispy
fried prawns are recommended...) and bar. It is
reported that the on-board staff are helpful and speak some
English, and the berths are even fitted with small TV
screens. There are now no 2-berth sleepers on this
train, they run in train T44/T43. Trains Z53 & Z54 are new
trains introduced from 1 June 2009, currently only alternate
days, but will soon become daily.
** The T44/T43
has 2-berth deluxe sleepers with private toilet, as well as
soft 7 hard class sleepers & restaurant car.
Beijing to Xian
is 1,200 km (750 miles). All trains shown are daily.
Terracotta
warriors: These are 40-45 minutes
from Xian station by bus 306 or 307, fare about 7 RMB.
Minibuses & taxis also available.
Fares
|
|
Beijing-Xian one-way
per person |
Hard sleeper |
Soft sleeper |
Deluxe Soft sleeper |
|
Bought at
reservations office in China: |
RMB 275 ($36) |
RMB 420 ($56) |
RMB 750 ($100) |
|
Booked in advance
at
www.chinatripadvisor.com: |
$50 |
$80 |
$135 |
|
Booked in advance
at
www.china-train-ticket.com: |
$105 |
$130 |
$175 |
Children
under 110cm tall travel free, 110-140cm tall travel for half
fare, over 140cm tall pay full fare.
How to buy tickets
Traveller
Graham Dawes reports (April 2009): "I successfully
used "English Spoken" booking hall window (which appears to
change so look carefully over booking hall windows for the
sign) in Beijing Xizahn (West) to book return tickets to
Xian on the Z19/Z20 last week for travel this week.
Soft sleeper in a 4 berth cabin cost Y417 each way.
Only cash accepted at window, no credit cards. Lower berths
seem slightly longer (about 2 metres) if you are tall.
Pillow and duvet provided in each berth. Travelled
both ways (solo) and shared with Chinese ladies and men and
had entertaining conversations in adequate English. Train
crew attendants also spoke some English and recorded
announcements on board made in English as well as Chinese.
Slept reasonably well and train ran punctually to the minute
both ways. Excellent value, even the toilets were fine
at the end of the trips. No sign of individual berth
TV's in the coaches in which I travelled. In both
stations used the Soft Class Waiting Lounges where there are
excellent electronic display boards (in English & Chinese)
for departures. You leave this lounge to board the
train via a ticket inspection. Retain tickets for
inspection at arrival stations."
What are the Beijing-Xian & Beijing-Shanghai 'Z'
category trains like?
'Z' category trains are the fastest and most modern long
distance trains in China, running on routes such as
Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing Xian. They are composed
of the very latest air-conditioned sleepers, plus bar and
restaurant. Traveller Jim McCorry reports: "The train journey was
exceptionally good; the sleeping accommodation was first
class as was the service. We also had the opportunity to
meet and enjoy conversations, sometimes only in written form
I may say, with a number of Chinese people sharing our
compartment both going and returning. Booking in Beijing was
relatively painless as they have a special booking office
for foreigners."
 |
|
 |
| Above:
Each coach proudly carries a destination plate, in
Chinese and English...
Photo courtesy of Bas de Graaff |
|
Above:
Upper & lower berths in a soft class sleeper,
complete with
individual TV screens...
Photo courtesy of Bas de Graaff |
 |
|
 |
| Above:
2-berth deluxe soft sleepers have upper & lower berths
on one side of the compartment, a wardrobe and armchair
on the other side...
Both photos courtesy of Bas de Graaff |
|
Above:
2-berth deluxe sleepers have a private toilet &
washroom. |
There are more photos of the excellent 'Z' trains
here.
High-speed 350
km/h 'C' category tra | |
