Trains

Travelling by train in China gives you a great opportunity to see beyond the big cities, meet domestic chinese travellers and experience what you could not by flying.

We primarily offer short duration train journeys within major metropolitan areas servicing neighbouring cities. For example, from Shanghai we offer daily excursions to surrounding Suzhou and Hangzhou by bullet train. Please inquire for further details and train options available.

Below is our guide to train travel as part of a China Links Travel holiday.

Train Arrivals

1. Your guide usually knows which carriage you are on, and will meet you on the platform.  However, some trains are now so fast (e.g. D trains travelling at 200 km/h) that no-one is allowed onto the platform until after the train has arrived.  In these instances it's hard for the guide to come in quickly against the flow of passenger, so customers should stay put until their guide finds them, usually after the initial rush. The guide will know where on the platform you can be found, and this will avoid you having to look for multiple exits. Check beforehand whether you should await your guide, or go to a designated meeting point.
2. Your guide can ask the carriage attendant to warn you 5 minutes or so before you arrive at your station.  Local trains, e.g. to Suzhou, may be a through train, stopping only very briefly, about 2 minutes.  Make sure you are ready!
3. Sometimes you may need to show your ticket to get off the platform when you arrive, so hang on to it, just in case.
4. Each carriage is numbered.  Each bunk is numbered.  This is shown on your ticket.  In the carriage each 4-berth cabin is also numbered.  This is not show on your ticket, and can confuse you.  E.g. you are in Carriage #6, berth 7.  Berth 7 will actually be in cabin 2 (Cabin 1 has berths 1-4; Cabin 2 has berths 5-8 etc).  Cabin 7 will therefore have berths 25-28. 

1. Procedure:  Go to the waiting room (your platform/waiting room are displayed on the boards) in the station, with train number and destination.  In large stations this cycles between Chinese and English, like the airports, in the smaller stations you can pick up the train number to see which platform and/or waiting room)
2. Doors from the waiting room to the platform will be opened when the train arrives, and close 5 minutes before it leaves  (note on some of the smaller trains the procedure is different, e.g. at Suzhou the train only stops for 2-3 minutes, and it can be a scramble).

Once the doors are open, find the right platform.  Don't underestimate this task, it may involve quite a bit of walking, and some stairs.  One waiting room may give access to many platforms.  Sometimes you can get on early (avoiding the mad scramble) with the help of your guide who can pay a porter a few Yuan to give you early access to the platform.  The main point is GET THERE IN GOOD TIME