JPDM

That would be true if flights were mostly on time. I also find the train more comfortable. I stopped flying this route a few years ago already.

moondog

- my door to door time on the trains (that only stop in one or two places) is 6 hours
-when flying, 4 hour door to door times are fairly common, but my average is just north of 5 hours
-this takes the occasional 8+ hour delay into account

But, a 3.5 hour train will reliably facilitate 4.5 hour door to door times. This makes it a winner.

travelinmanS

I don't see these available to book on Ctrip. Any idea of when they will be in service regularly?

JPDM

I see it on other booking site. G123.
It is launched already but not going at higher speeds yet. Same as the other trains for now except for wifi on board.

NgatesSEA

I have read many articles on the new trains, which appear to be G123 and G124. I have not, however, seen any news on when they will begin traveling at higher speeds or what the delivery schedules is for additional units.

Does anyone know when they will begin traveling at higher speeds, or when additional rail stock will be delivered for wifi on additional trains? Thanks.

JPDM

These are new trains and they already have the wifi. However I don't think that they'll have the higher speeds any time soon. Thy would bump into the trains ahead of them. I suspect that this will only happen once the construction of the new tracks is completed.

mosburger

Maybe add a late connection in both directions an hour after the current last G departures? Would give more dinner time for business people and government officials.

Early morning probably less demand due to the excellent D night trains.

NgatesSEA

Appears trains are speeding up begining in September. Schedules for trains in late September (both on 12306.cn and chinahighlights.com, etc.) show some trains like the 9a G2 running at 4:28 with two 2 min. stops. Interestingly, re: bumping into trains ahead of them, on September 21 at least, the G12 leaves SHA 8a, arrives BJ 13:33 (5 stops, incld 14 min in Langfang), while the G2 leaves SHA 9a, arrives BJ 13:28 (2 stops).

We are traveling in October and I have yet to see the schedules update for October on English sites (and can't make 12306.cn timetable lookup work via VPN and pasting "上海" for Shanghai), but I am hopeful they will soon.

A (purported) list of the trains that will run faster on this route is here: http://www.bestchinanews.com/Domestic/16469.html:

JPDM

12306 only shows schedules 30 days ahead. Agent website just extrapolate based on current schedules. Means nothing.

NgatesSEA

Thanks, that makes sense. 12306 (and agent websites) do continue to extend out day by day with the "new" schedule with the 4:30 trains.

itfcfan

When the new "Fuxing Hao" / "Rejuvenation" trains start running at 350kph, they will decrease travel times. However, some articles online are misleading in saying times will decrease by an hour.

Here's one of those misleading articles:
Fortune: China Just Relaunched the World’s Fastest Train

From 21st September, the fastest trains will have overall travel time decreased by up to 22 minutes (G7 will be the quickest service taking 4:24, down from 4:56).

Here's a list of the fastest services, taken from a search from 12306.cn for Beijing-Shanghai services on 25th September:

YuropFlyer

Great to see even further improvements to an already superb system. Keep it up China ^

chornedsnorkack

What they are:
G5 7:00 4:34 11:34
G1 9:00 4:28 13:28
G13 10:00 4:28 14:28
G3 14:00 4:28 18:28
G17 15:00 4:28 19:28
G7 19:00 4:24 23:24
G9 19:05 4:34 23:39

onuhistorian0116

I have to agree with this. While, when everything works correctly flying may shave off an hour or two, the train is much more reliable. In my 4 years in China, I have been on one train that was late. The high speed from Shanghai to Beijing was 20 minutes late because we had to slow down for the final couple hundred kilometers due to snow.

And I will always take the comfort of the train over a plane.

Of course, if China wasn't more paranoid than the US about security, and one didn't have to go through a somewhat evasive security check to board a train, that would make the train a hands down winner.

NgatesSEA

Not sure if I just got lucky but in my experiences boarding trains at Hongqiao, Hangzhou, and Beijingnan, security was awesome, and WAY better than U.S. or Chinese airports (only experienced PVG and PEK in China). At the entrance to the station (curbside), security was quick and efficient: staff ably dispersed passengers into the many open lanes, lines were very short, passports and tickets were checked in-line, and security itself was the opposite of TSA, with no opening of bags, harassing with "random selections", etc. I experienced no security beyond this other than the customary automated gate ticket check to access the platforms.

To be fair, I completely agree with your "China more paranoid than the US about security" at the airports - immigration and security departing PVG and PEK was a mess and (almost, not at all) made me wistful for TSA.