Originally Posted by
former230
I guess I am ignorant as to the meaning of differences in the length of the train number. I was just specifically looking for an early morning departure and thus earlier arrival into Shanghai to maximize my time in SH. The schedule I saw indicated that these were amongst the earlier arrival times in SH.
I thought these were arbitrarily assigned train numbers for id purposes only. The letter (G) I do understand the meaning of (G being the fastest trains right now).
I would certainly appreciate your guidance on this. Thank you!
chornedsnorkack did an excellent job of explaining my thinking on this matter, and deserves props.
But, I have a bit more to add. I really dislike G1 and G2 because: 1) they are always packed; and 2) the train stations are a madhouse at 9, but not so much at 8 or 10.
I like G3 and G4, but not enough to go out of my way to book them (basically, the extra 7 minutes that double-digit trains entail don't matter a whole lot in the grand scheme).
My SOP is to go straight to car 9 (dining car), get a good table, and hang out there until I hit Nanjing (southbound) or Jinan (northbound), and then plop myself in a first class seat for the rest of the journey. The fact that I am tight with many train people helps wrt self upgrading (i.e. they bring me to an open seat), but you guys can presumably do the same because nobody seems to care. I wouldn't attempt this strategy on a 3-digit train, and I never shoot for business class because I don't want to get anybody fired (since demand for it is so low, the conductor has a pretty good idea of those who have actually shelled out y1750 to sit there).