Last edit by: moondog
I started this thread almost exactly 7 years ago. Not a lot has changed since then, but I think a wikipost is now justified:
-Jing refers to Beijing and Hu refers to Shanghai
-the smaller cities in the middle derive the greatest economic benefit from the service
-air fares have dropped a lot during the course of the past 7 years, and the delay situation has improved quite a bit, so I usually fly these days
-single digit trains tend to stop only in Nanjing, double digit trains stop in Nanjing and Jinan, and triple digit trains have up to 7 station stops.
-the vast majority of trains terminate at Shanghai Hongqiao, which isn't convenient for many people, but Shanghai Station service has recently been launched
-if you have a few days advance on your hands, buy tickets locally; in addition to being a little cheaper, this spares the need for will call
-Jing refers to Beijing and Hu refers to Shanghai
-the smaller cities in the middle derive the greatest economic benefit from the service
-air fares have dropped a lot during the course of the past 7 years, and the delay situation has improved quite a bit, so I usually fly these days
-single digit trains tend to stop only in Nanjing, double digit trains stop in Nanjing and Jinan, and triple digit trains have up to 7 station stops.
-the vast majority of trains terminate at Shanghai Hongqiao, which isn't convenient for many people, but Shanghai Station service has recently been launched
-if you have a few days advance on your hands, buy tickets locally; in addition to being a little cheaper, this spares the need for will call
The Jinghu (Beijing-Shanghai) High Speed Rail thread
#151
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: China and Canada
Posts: 1,886
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.
#152
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Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Shanghai
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-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.
#155
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: USA
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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.
#156
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: China and Canada
Posts: 1,886
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.
#157
Join Date: Oct 2004
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Early morning probably less demand due to the excellent D night trains.
#158
Join Date: Jul 2007
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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:
From September 21st onwards, the railway department will arrange 7 of the "Renaissance" EMU in the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway 350 km per hour, respectively, G3\/G4, G5\/G6, G1\/G2 as G7\/G8, G9\/G10, G13\/G14, G17\/G18 between Beijing and Shanghai, the entire running time of 4.5 hours.
#160
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#161
Join Date: May 2012
Location: London, UK
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Posts: 158
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:
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:
G7 4:24 (down from 4:56)
G17 4:28 (down from 4:56)
G3 4:28 (down from 4:50)
G1 4:28 (down from 4:49)
G13 4:28 (down from 4:55)
G5 4:34 (down from 4:55)
G9 4:34 (no existing corresponding service)
G15 4:56 (down from 4:56)
G17 4:28 (down from 4:56)
G3 4:28 (down from 4:50)
G1 4:28 (down from 4:49)
G13 4:28 (down from 4:55)
G5 4:34 (down from 4:55)
G9 4:34 (no existing corresponding service)
G15 4:56 (down from 4:56)
#164
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 246
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.
#165
Join Date: Jul 2007
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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.
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.
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.