jehflyer

I will be staying at the China World Hotel and have to be in Tianjin TEDA mid morning.
In the past, I have taken hired a car but am thinking of taking the high speed train.
The problem as far as I can tell is getting to Beijing South
and from Tianjin to TEDA-unless there is some other available train.

moondog

C2271 城际高速 北京南 北京南 07:20 塘沽 转让 求购 促销酒店 08:14 塘沽 0小时54分钟 58 69
C2273 城际高速 北京南 北京南 10:45 塘沽 转让 求购 促销酒店 11:36 塘沽 0小时51分钟 58 69

These are the morning trains from BJ South to Tanggu (near TEDA). Once you add in the time required to get from your hotel to South Stn, and allow a 15 minute cushion, the car would certainly be faster.

That having been said, if you don't have a car waiting for you, then the option of taking one of the fast trains back (from Tianjin Station, 30 miles away) will be available. Here too, barring traffic, the car option is faster, but the train is almost worth trying based solely on coolness factor.

ETA: Scratch the above paragraph. I just checked the schedules and realized that the Tanggu trains are all CRH and stop in Tianjin in both directions. Here's the return schedule (not including morning departures):

C2274 城际高速 塘沽 塘沽 12:14 北京南 转让 求购 促销[北京]酒店 13:10 北京南 0小时56分钟 58 69
C2276 城际高速 塘沽 塘沽 13:44 北京南 转让 求购 促销[北京]酒店 14:40 北京南 0小时56分钟 58 69
C2278 城际高速 塘沽 塘沽 18:18 北京南 转让 求购 促销[北京]酒店 19:10 北京南 0小时52分钟 58 69
C2280 城际高速 塘沽 塘沽 19:59 北京南 转让 求购 促销[北京]酒店 20:55 北京南 0小时56分钟 58 69
C2282 城际高速 塘沽 塘沽 21:39 北京南 转让 求购 促销[北京]酒店 22:35 北京南 0小时56分钟 58 69

jehflyer

Thank you for the info.
I guess I will take the car: time appears a trade-off (but with traffic who knows) and schedule is not that convenient.
I was looking forward to the bullet train experience but will get that-I hope- going from Shanghai to Nanjing.

moondog

While time spent on the way down might be a wash due to the traffic variable on the way to the train station (i.e. advisable to leave hotel ~35 minutes before departure), 80 minutes door-to-door on the return is conceivable.

The main advantages of the train:
1) reliability (i.e. fog and traffic are non issues)
2) comfort
3) cost

If you go with the train option, you might want to line up your ticket to Tanggu ahead of time, and buy the return from one of the ticket machines upon arrival (switching to earlier train is fairly easy).

jehflyer

For comfort and convenience-or so I thought-I used a car/driver.
Beijing CBD to TEDA: 4 hours approx on account of road repairs
TED to Beijing CBD: slightly less than 2 hours (great driver+no repairs).
All in all, taking the train and cabs between Tianjin/TEDA would have been less aggravating.

moondog

I'm sorry I didn't make a stronger push for the train.

jehflyer

I was really impressed by the G trains between Shanghai and Nanjing: fast, clearly marked platforms.
My only question, since I purchased tickets at a travel agent or hotel, is how easy is it to buy a ticket at the station, say half an hour before departure?
I speak no Chinese and only have US credit cards (as opposed to Eurpean smart cards), cash is no problem.

sniles

What is today's price range for a Beijing car service from Beijing CBD to Tianjin CBD to Tianjin airport? Passat or similar, time within 8 hours, including parking, tolls, etc....thnx

moondog

If you book on call, you're looking at around 1,000. However, if you're willing to go to that place at the intersection of 3rd Ring and the highway to Tianjin, you can usually pick up a car for less than 400 to Teda or 250 to more central locations.

Wise-Broccoli8301

Sorry for bumping this thread up. I'm looking to get into TEDA for a Monday morning meeting also (not this coming Monday), but I want to be touring Beijing on Sunday, so would you be able to give me the # for a hired car service? (Just in case I wuss out for the train)

Also based on the coolness factor of the CRH train (I've taken plenty of N700 Shinkansen), I'd like to try the train. However I'm worried about what to do after I get off. I need to get to the Holiday Inn Binhai. Just grab a cab? I'm plenty familiar with buying train tickets in Taiwan and Japan, but just seeing the chaos last time I was in Suzhou I'm a little worried. I suppose I can handle it on my own given that I do speak some Mandarin.

jiejie

My most dreaded road trip in China is the expressway between Beijing and Tianjin. Literally every time I've had to go on that thing, there have been major accidents; on one particularly bad occasion I managed by about 3 hours to miss being involved in a 100+ car pileup with multiple fatalities. Crawling to Tianjin ended up taking about 5 hours and I did have to move my business meeting. Seriously, take the train. If you plan your touring in Beijing properly on Sunday, maybe you can position yourself closer to center of town so getting by cab to BJ South Station isn't such a chore. If you are too late to take one of the trains to Tanggu, then just get one to Tianjin station, take the subway/light rail to TEDA, and get a cab the short distance to your hotel. If you can speak some Mandarin, this will be easy for you unless you are carrying large amounts of luggage/business samples.

You can buy a train ticket at any of the zillion little ticket offices scattered all over Beijing, usually little or no wait and just an RMB 5 surcharge for doing so. There's also a ticket office at Beijing Airport though not sure when it closes. This way you can get to BJ South with ticket in hand and just head for your boarding area.

trueblu

Only been to Tianjin once, and yes, the highway can be populated by crazy drivers (and trucks!). But I didn't think it was that much worse than other Chinese highways I've been on. For us, car made more sense than train -- increased flexibility, didn't need to get to the station (which can take an hour in and of itself!) and the price differential with multiple pax. For the solo traveller, agree train is usually the better option.

tb

PS we had our own car: the price of hiring a car (unless expensing it) will be far, far more...

Wise-Broccoli8301

Yeah. I speak Mandarin fluently, so I'm not too worried. Is the road from Tianjin station to TEDA pretty bad? Looks around 45 km. ~6:40pm for the last train out to Tanggu should be doable but I was hoping to go after dinner to avoid the rush hour traffic. This is May 4th, so Sunday is a work day after the 3-day holiday. If the drive isn't bad once I'm in Tianjin, then I can just grab a cab no problem, hoping to roll in around 9 or so to settle into my hotel.

Also any recommendations for car service? I'd like to keep that option open just in case. I want to take the train simply because I enjoy HSR in general.