Passenger Rail Transport in Mainland China
This article is about passenger transportation in
Mainland China. If you wish to know about passenger transportation in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, please see related articles.
Rail is one of the principal means of transport in Mainland China, with over 10 billion railway journeys each year. Many of these journeys are taken during the
Spring Festival Travel Season. In 2006, the railway system transported more than 1.44 billion people during this 40 day festival period.
Every train has an identification number of two to four characters, usually to indicate class. The first character can be alphabetic or numeric, while the second to fourth characters are all numeric. One train may use two numbers in one direction. The general guidelines for the numbering rules are as follows:
*Since Beijing is seen as the center of the network, the train from
Beijing is the
down service, while the train towards
Beijing is the
up service.
*If the railway on which the train is travelling goes to Beijing, but the train does not itself pass
Beijing (e.g.
Shanghai to
Nanjing West on the
Shanghai-Nanjing Railway), then trains are still described as up or down using the rule outlined above.
*If the railway does not connect to
Beijing (e.g. the
Longhai Railway), the train to south and to east is up, while to north, to west is down.
Down trains use odd numbers, while
up trains use even numbers, e.g. No. T103(
Beijing to
Shanghai), No. N522(
Hangzhou to
Meilong).,
*If a train changes during a journey from being an up train to a down train, or vice versa, it use a double train number; e.g., K56/57(
Shanghai to
Harbin) uses K56 before
Tangshan, and uses K57 after
Tangshan; K290/291(
Shanghai to
Chengdu) uses K290 before
Xuzhou(towards
Beijing when in
Beijing-Shanghai Railway, and uses K291 after
Xuzhou(east to west on the
Longhai Railway and north to south on the
Baoji-Chengdu Railway.
The lettering on the trains usually indicate the class of the passenger train, often determined by the speed and the relative number of stops the train makes along the way. There are five alphabetic prefixes:
X (New Express)
This series will be available after the sixth rise in speed of the railway in this year. All will have soft beds or seats. The top speed will be 200km/h. These trains will use electric multiple units (EMUs).
Z (Direct Express)
Though its name in Chinese (直达
Zhida, hence the
Z Prefix) technically implies a "non-stop" train, some of these trains have several stops between the two stations.The majority have soft sleepers and/or soft seats, while very few have hard sleepers.As for Auguest, 2006, all but one of the Z-series trains have either Beijing or Beijing West station as its destination or origin.
T (Express)
This series of trains have few stops along its route, only in major cities, or in some instances for change of driver/locomotive. The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Te"(特) in Chinese, which most people spell as "T" in English.
K (Fast)
This series of trains stop at more stations than T-series, and normally have slower travel speed than the T-series in the same corridor.The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Kuai"(快) in Chinese, which most people spell as "K" in English.All K-series trains travel on lines operated by more than one railway bureau.
N (Fast Train within One Railway Bureau)
Similar to a K train, but this series of trains travel exclusively within one railway bureau.The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Nei"(内) in Chinese, which most people spell as "N" in English.
General Fast Train
The "general fast" (普通旅客快车, 普快
Pukuai for short) is in reality a euphemism for slower passenger trains that stop at around half of the stations along the way, and is often a tedious ride. It is indicated by a numeric prefix smaller between 1-5 and always has four digits in its number.
General Train
The General Train (普通旅客列车), often simply referred to as
Manche (i.e. slow train), is a train that uses a 4 character number, and the numeric prefix is between 6 and 9. This is the slowest type of train and has lowest priority in the Fixed Train Timetable (图定列车); it has as many stops as possible, and is often only the preferred choice for rural workers to visit their home villages.
L (Temporary Train)
This series of trains are temporary ones. They are not listed in the official train schedule, but are added when necessary. Many of these trains only operate at peak passenger travel season such as during the spring festival period. However, many new train services are original added as L-series before the schedule readjustment of train schedules, and later become regular services.The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Lin"(临) in Chinese, which most people spell as "L" in English.
A (Train meet need)
This series is similar to the L-series, but is used when a number is taken by a regular train.The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "An"(按) in Chinese, which most people spell as "A" in English.
S (Surburb Train)
Used for commuter traffic. They generally have a short route , e.g., S801, from
Meilong in
Shanghai to
Jiashan in
Zhejiang, has a route of only 59km.
There are four types of tickets that may be purchased
*The
Hard Seat (硬座
Yìngzùo) is the basic fare, the accommodation is somewhat similar to the
economy class on an airplane, but on busier routes, passengers who cannot arrange for seats because of overcrowding must also purchase this type of ticket.
*The
Soft Seat (软座
Ruǎnzùo) is one level above the Hard Seat, and has comfortable seating similar to
business class on airplanes.
*The
Hard Sleeper (硬卧
Yìngwo) is the basic accommodation for an overnight train. Despite the name, the bunks (three on a side -- indicated by up, middle and bottom on the ticket, in a compartment) could comfortably fit anyone below six feet for a good night sleep.
*The
Soft Sleeper (软卧
Zhuǎnwo) contains a larger bunk bed (two a side in a compartment) in an enclosed cabin. These tickets are usually reserved more than a week prior to departure.
*A few trains will have a kind of accommodation more expensive than a soft bed, named "Advanced Cab"(高级软卧包厢 or 高包)
The fares are different between trains with or without air-conditioning.
No. T97/98 (
Beijing-
Kowloon) and No. K99/100 (
Shanghai-
Kowloon) are combined transportation trains. Passengers can complete all formalities in their departure station, and no longer need to alight at
Dongguan.
International Combined Transportation
A few trains can transport passengers out of China to places such as
Ulaanbaatar in
Mongolia,
Moscow in
Russia,
Almaty in
Kazakhstan,
P'yŏngyang in
D.P.R.Korea,
Hanoi in
Vietnam and so on.
Since Chinese railways and those of its neighbours sometimes have different
gauges, passengers in some trains need to alight at a border city and wait for a train of a different gauge to continue their journey.
There are three levels of management in the railway system of Mainland China: the Minister of Railways; Railway Bureaux or Railway Group Companies; and Stations.
There are sixteen Railway Bureaux and two Railway Group Companies under the Minister of Railways.
The following are sorted by their first letter in Pinyin.
*
Beijing Railway Bureau*
Chengdu Railway Bureau*
Gangzhou Railway Group Co.,Ltd.*
Harbin Railway Bureau*
Hohhot Railway Bureau*
Jinan Railway Bureau*
Kunming Railway Bureau*
Lanzhou Railway Bureau*
Liuzhou Railway Bureau*
Nanchang Railway Bureau*
Qinghai-Tibet Railway Group Co., Ltd.*
Shanghai Railway Bureau*
Shenyang Railway Bureau*
Taiyuan Railway Bureau*
Wulumuqi (Ürümqi) Railway Bureau*
Wuhan Railway Bureau*
Xi'an Railway Bureau*
Zhengzhou Railway Bureau
