Nanjing by rail?
 

What are options for flying in to another airport and arriving at Nanjing by rail.

From what I gather:
From SHA, you can walk (or ride the subway a stop) and get on a a high speed train.
From PVG, it requires a long subway ride (or a Maglev + moderate subway ride - or a bus)
From PEK? There is a high speed rail from Beijing to Nanjing, but is it easy to connect from the airport?

Are there other airports that are easy to fly in to and "train" to Nanjing?

You've provided a decent snapshot of the "airport --> train station" situation, but imo this isn't relevant to many people because if you're already at an airport that has flights to NJ, it would be foolish not to avail of them. What's more, if I was coming from overseas, and NJ was my destination, I would be sure to figure out a way to fly there (i.e. avoid PVG).

Agree with moondog, if you are coming internationally and want to get to Nanjing with expediency, it would better to fly there. You may wish to consider flights coming from other Asian hubs that fly directly to NKG without first going through another Chinese gateway: MU and OZ nonstop flights ICN-NKG comes to mind, or MU, KA/CX, or HX via HKG. Not sure if there is anything nonstop from NRT or HND.

Of the cities you already outlined, SHA is the best approach to get to Nanjing by rail transfer. If there are no nonstops that work for you into NKG directly, then trying for a regional international route that goes to SHA (there are quite a few from HND, GMP, HKG, TSA) might work as a fallback.

Additional air-train data point:
From PEK. the switch to get to Beijing South Rail Station which is on the opposite side of town is not straightforward if you go by non-taxi method. Options are to take Airport Shuttle Bus (RMB 16) to Xidan, then switch to Subway line 4 southbound to BJ South. Or Airport Express Light rail to Dongzhimen hub to subway Line 2 to Line 1 to Line 4 (seriously NOT recommended.) Overall: not a good plan if you are trying to do a direct switch without a stayover in Beijing. If arriving in PEK and then connecting to a NKG domestic flight (make sure enough time!), that would be more logical.

Not to mention it also takes 3:39 on the fastest trains from Beijing South to Nanjing South. Most trains take 4 hours or a bit more.

Maybe, but in addition to G1 and G3, there are double digit G trains on the hour, which only stop in Jinan on the way to NJ. The Jinan stop only adds ~5 mins to the journey.

Note that if you do reach Lukou Airport, you cannot rail to Nanjing either. When is Nanjing Metro Line 6 due to open?

When I have flown through PEK, it was about 3 hours for the connection after clearing customs, plus another hour or so for the flight, and then around an hour from the Nanjing airport to hotel. So four hours for a train ride (+20 minute subway ride from train station to hotel) does not sound all that bad. But, if it takes a long time to get to the hotel, that could cause issues. (How long does it take to get from airport to train station?) However, since it looks like a trek, this will probably be in the category of "only do when I really want to ride the rails" category.

Shanghai seems more valuable. It opens up a lot more flight possibilities. If it takes 4 hours to get from PVG to Nanjing, that still would be faster than connecting through PEK. How bad is PVG? Could you reasonably make it from the airport to Nanjing in 4 hours? (I'm guessing from SHA that would be no problem since the train station is so close, though is it easy to navigate?)

Are there any other Chinese destinations that have reasonable rail connections to Nanjing?

PVG-Hongqiao Rail Stn metro 2 hours. (least expensive way)
PVG-Hongqiao Rail Stn taxi 45 minutes-1 hr ( ~ 160 RMB)

Hongqiao Rail Stn to Nanjing HSR 2 hours.

Don't take a taxi to Nanjing, completely unnecessary.

Sure, NAY (Beijing Nanyuan), Xuzhou, Jinan, and Wuxi come to mind. The thing is, NKG itself has flights to/from the same cities as all of these places, plus many more. Unless you're already in China, and near a station on the JingHu HSR, flying makes far more sense 99% of the time.

That's a long taxi ride.

Is so, be sure to to stop and check out the
Historical Bridge

The faster trains do this run in a hair over one hour.

What are the train numbers?

All of the single/double digit G trains.

Couldn't find that speed on this
website?

Looking in wrong place?

http://www.cnvol.com/