Passenger rail transport in China

This article is about passenger transportation in Mainland China. If you wish to know about passenger transportation in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, please see related articles.

An electronic display board at Shanghai south railway station with a list of departures

Passenger rail transport is one of the principal means of transport in Mainland China, with 1.456 billion railway trips taken in 2008. The Spring Festival Travel Season is the peak railway travel season of the year.

China is currently redeveloping its entire railway network to produce a modern high-speed network. By the end of 2009 China expects to have a railway network length covering 89,000km, which includes both freight and passenger railway lines.

Passenger Train Route Identifiers

See also: Railroad directions

Every train route has an identification number of two to four characters. The first character can be alphabetic or numeric, while the second to fourth characters are all numeric.

Trains are classified as up trains or down trains. Since Beijing is seen as the centre of the network, the train from Beijing is the down service, while the train towards Beijing is the up service. Trains that do not go to Beijing are designated up or down based on the railway they are traveling on. Railways that do not go to Beijing are up or down based on whether they are going in the direction that goes towards or away from Beijing. Train routes that change from up service to down service while traveling in a certain direction might use two different route numbers. For example a train from Qingdao to Xian begins as up service as it travels approaching Beijing and changes to down service when it reaches the point where its travel is away from Beijing all the while travelling westerly.

First Character

The first character of the route identifier usually indicate the class of the passenger train, often determined by the speed and the relative number of stops the train makes along the way. There are five alphabetic prefixes.

C ("Chengji"; Intercity EMU Train)

This series has become available after August 1, 2008 with the opening of Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Rail. The top speed is 350 km/h.

D ("Dongche"; EMU Train)

This series has become available after the sixth rise in speed of the railway on April 18, 2007. All will have soft beds or seats. The top speed will be 250 km/h. These trains will be powered using electric multiple units (EMUs).

As of 2009, D-series trains provide fast frequent service between main cities in China. For example:

• Beijing - Shijiazhuang (2 hours travel time), Taiyuan(3 hours travel time), Handan (3-3.5 hours travel time), Zhengzhou(5 hours travel time).
• Guangzhou - Shenzhen(1 hour travel time)
• Shanghai - Nanjing (2 hours travel time), Hangzhou(1.5 hours travel time), some continuing to destinations beyond such as Zhengzhou and Hankou.

Besides, a few other nighttime D trains go to more remote destinations, such as the services between Shanghai and Beijing.

Z (Direct Express)

Though its name in Chinese (直达 Zhida, hence the Z Prefix) technically implies a "non-stop" overnight train, some of these trains have several stops between the two stations. The majority have both soft sleepers and hard sleeper, while some Z trains have only soft sleepers.

Early on (August, 2006), all but one of the Z-series trains had either Beijing or Beijing West station as their destination or origin.

As of 2009, Z-series trains also operated along the Yangtze Valley as well, providing overnight service from Wuhan to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo.

T (Express)

This series of trains have a limited number of stops along their routes, only in major cities, or in some instances stops for switching the driver or locomotive. The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Te"(特) in Chinese.

K (Fast)

This series of trains stop at more stations than T-series, and normally have a slower travel speed than the T-series in the same corridor. The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Kuai"(快) in Chinese.

All K-series trains travel on lines operated by more than one railway bureau.

N (Fast Train within One Railway Bureau)

Similar to a K train, but this series of trains travel exclusively within one railway bureau. The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Nei"(内) in Chinese.

1-5 General Fast Train

General fast trains (普通旅客快车, 普快 Pukuai for short) are slower passenger trains that stop at around half of the stations along the way, resulting in a longer travel time than the fast trains. Route numbers are always four numeric digits - a numeric prefix from 1-5 followed by a 3-digit route number.

6001-7598 General Train

The general train (普通旅客列车), often simply referred to as Puke (general passenger) has as many stops as possible, and is often the preferred choice for rural workers to visit their home villages. This is the slowest type of train and has the lowest priority in the Fixed Train Timetable (图定列车).

Route identifiers for general trains are always 4 digits - a numeric prefix from 6-9 followed by a 3-digit route number.

7601-8998 Commuter Train

The Commuter Train (通勤列车), is usually runs for railway staff, and generally, their tickets are not available for passengers.

L (Temporary Train)

This series of trains are temporary - they are not listed in the official train schedule, but are added when necessary. Many of these trains only operate at peak passenger travel season such as during the spring festival period. In addition, many new train services are originally added as L-series before train schedules are readjusted and later become regular services. L with 3 digits use for trains run in more than one railway bureau, while L with 4 digits use for train runs in one railway bureau.

The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Lin"(临) in Chinese.

Y(Tourist Train)

This series is used for trains that run to famous sights, such as the Beijing S2 Line, which runs from Beijing North to Yanqing, and connects to the Great Wall.

Numeric Portion (Digits 2-4)

Down trains use odd numbers, while up trains use even numbers. For example, the T103 travels from Beijing to Shanghai, and the N522 travels from Hangzhou to Meilong

Some examples of double train numbers that switch up and down during their route

• The Shanghai to Harbin train is the K56/57 - it uses K56 before Tangshan, and uses K57 after Tangshan.
• The Shanghai to Chengdu is the K290/291 - it uses K290 before Xuzhou (towards Beijing on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway), and uses K291 after Xuzhou(east to west on the Longhai Railway and north to south on the Baoji-Chengdu Railway).
• The Yantai to Harbin train changes number at Tianjin

Changes after Apr.1,2009

After Apr 1,2009, there was a small change in the train number system. Under the new system, all passenger train except Y-series(Tourists) will use 4 digits; some have a 1-letter prefix, and some have no prefix.

As the Rule of The Edit and Management of Train Timetable, a rule issued by Ministry of Railway, the train system has these following changes after April 1, 2009.

New Series

• G (High Speed), is a reserved series for future use. G1 to G5998 will be used for the trains that run in more than one railway bureau's territory, while G6001 to G9998 will be used for the trains that run in only one railway bureau's territory.

Change

• D (EMU Train), D1 to D3998 will be used for the trains that run in more than one railway bureau, while D4001 to D9998 will be used for the trains that run in only one railway bureau.
• Z (Direct Express Train), use the numbers Z1 to Z9998 without regard to the number of railway bureaus entered.
• T (Express Train), T1 to T4998 will be used for the trains that run in more than one railway bureau, while T5001 to T9998 will be used for the trains that run in only one railway bureau.
• K (Fast Train), K1 to K6998 will be used for the trains that run in more than one railway bureau, while K7001 to K9998 will be used for the trains that run in only one railway bureau.

Revoke

• N(Fast Train in one railway bureau), this series, which derived from K-series, will re-merge to K-series after Apr 1,2009.

Accommodation and Fares

There are seven types of tickets that may be purchased

• First Class Seat, used for EMU train , generally, only 1 car in 8-car EMU or 2 cars in 16-car EMU is first class seat.
• Second Class Seat, similar as hard seat, but it is soft seat in EMU train.
• Hard seat (Chinese: 硬座; pinyin: Yìngzuò) is the basic fare, somewhat similar to the economy class on an airplane. On busier routes, passengers who cannot arrange for better seats because of overcrowding must also purchase this type of ticket.
• Soft seat (Chinese: 软座; pinyin: Ruǎnzuò) is one level above the Hard Seat, and has comfortable seating similar to business class on airplanes.
• Hard sleeper (Chinese: 硬卧; pinyin: Yìngwò) is the basic accommodation for an overnight train. Despite the name, the bunks comfortably accommodate anyone below six feet. Bunks are arranged three on a side in a compartment - indicated by top, middle and bottom on the ticket.
• Soft sleeper (Chinese: 软卧; pinyin: Ruǎnwò) contains a larger bunk bed in an enclosed cabin, two bunks to a side, and an entertainment system where movie channels are available for viewing through headphones and an LCD display for each bunk. These tickets are usually reserved more than a week prior to departure.
• A few trains will have a kind of accommodation more expensive than a soft bed, named "Advanced Cab" (高级软卧包厢 or Chinese: 高包; pinyin: Gāobāo)

The fares are different between trains with or without air-conditioning.

Combined Transport

Combined transportation trains allow passengers to remain on a single train during two routes, without transferring to a different train at the station where the route changes.

Guangzhou-Kowloon

No. T97B/98B (Beijing-Kowloon) and No. T99B/100B (Shanghai-Kowloon) are combined transportation trains. Passengers can complete all formalities in their departure station, and no longer need to alight at Dongguan.

International Combined Transportation

A few trains can transport passengers out of China to places such as Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Moscow in Russia, Almaty in Kazakhstan, P'yŏngyang in D.P.R.Korea, Hanoi in Vietnam and so on.

Since Chinese railways and those of its neighbours sometimes have different gauges of rail track passengers in some trains may need to alight at a border city and wait for a train of a different gauge to continue their journey.

See also

• List of tram and light-rail transit systems
• List of town tramway systems in Asia
• List of rapid transit systems
• List of trolleybus systems

External links

• Passenger train information online
• Checking Train Schedules Online