SCOOTing to Nanjing

[mngedo]

Thanks lcpteck! that is helpful information.
Do you know if there is always a long que (i can only imagine) rushing to buy train tickets? I am really thinking of purchasing it upon arrival but dont want to get caught in the situation when tickets are all sold out!

 

[dilphinus]

Thanks lcpteck! that is helpful information.
Do you know if there is always a long que (i can only imagine) rushing to buy train tickets? I am really thinking of purchasing it upon arrival but dont want to get caught in the situation when tickets are all sold out!

high speed trains can buy on the day itself. not for the long distance trains though. in bigger cities like beijing and shanghai, train tickets are usually sold out a week before.

 

[dilphinus]

just a guideline

May 2011
Kunming to Dali - ticket bought on same day
Lijiang to Kunming - ticket bought 2 or 3 days before, only left the soft sleeper
Shanghai to Hangzhou - bought the day before (high speed train)

Mar 2012
Beijing to Tianjin (weekend return) - bought on same day (high speed train)
Beijing to Harbin (return) - wanted to buy the same night departure but tickets were sold out. Have to leave 2 days later.

Aug 2012
Tianjin to Beijing - bought on same day (high speed train)
Beijing to Datong - bought on same day but left only hard seat
Datong to Hohhot - bought on same day as I bought the ticket for Beijing to Datong. Train was for 3 days later, only left standing ticket
Hohhot to Erlian - bought 2 days before

Feb 2014
Tianjin to Beijing - bought same day. But earlier train had no tickets. Had to wait for a later train. End up having to wait longer than expected.
Beijing to Taiyuan - bought one week prior
Wanted to buy direct train tickets from Beijing to Pingyao but sold out. Not willing to take hard seat or standing ticket. No train tickets for Beijing to Xi-an either.
Taiyuan to Beijing - bought 2 weeks prior

There's usually no issues with availability when it comes to the high speed trains. But slow trains sell out pretty fast. If you are a guy, you can take the hard seat. Not recommended for a female. Standing ticket is not recommended for any trip that's more than 2 hours.

Trick is to buy the ticket online and collect it at a smaller station where there's no queue. There's a RMB5 admin fee.

Example, ticket bought for Beijing West to Chengdu, you can collect your ticket at the Shunyi station but there's an admin fee of RMB5. Another example, you buy the Shanghai to Zhangjiajie from Beijing, the station in Beijing will charge an admin fee of RMB5.

 

[lcpteck]

I agree with dilphinus, there are alot of trains per day passing through so buying on arrival is good enough unless is those cities that are not served by high speed rail (conventional trains) or it's those long distance ones.

If it's those major intercity trains, you can just buy on arrival. Here's the train schedule between Shanghai to Nanjing. You'll notice a pattern, G and D trains are faster while the rest are slower cause G and D are the inter-city ones or the faster class ones with less stops or whatever (can't remember). There maybe more than one high speed rail train station so make sure when buying tickets (either via counter or online) choose the right station that benefits your destination (use googlemaps to see train station location). This website is very good to see the first and last trains.

Problem with me is I can't read chinese so I queue until I found out I'm in the wrong queue haha... There are some queues for change of timing in case you missed it or want to change for another timing. I really need to improve my chinese..

If you can read chinese just register account and buy online so can choose seats to save alot of hassle. I once chose a 1st class seat and found mcdonald's on the seat left by the previous passenger. I just left it on the floor and sat down. This is just for your info, usually is quite clean.

Longest high speed rail line is Beijing to Guangzhou in 8 hours (according to website). You can read this website if you're interested in learning more about high speed rail in china. Lots of useful info.

Official China Rail website if I'm not wrong.

Oh yeah I tried the standing ticket once since it was only 1 stop (about 15-20 mins ride).

 

[ishoppersmarketing]

You can try both way go by train and return by bus. 1st time travel might be not so experience and you can see more thing while travel in different way.

Thanks. But it looks like total journey time is approximately the same, not factoring in traffic jams etc.

For example, I saw that:
- Bullet train from Wuxi to Nanjing = 44mins
- Shuttle Bus to Nanjing Airport = about 40mins
TOTAL = 1.5hrs (not including waiting time etc)

- Bus from Wuxi Bus Station to Nanjing Airport = 2hrs

I still can't decide... haha

 

[ishoppersmarketing]

Yes. Agrred. Took the HS rail from Shanghai to Suzhou only 23min compare with normal spped rail 38min and drive 1 hour.

I usually buy high speed rail (gao tie) tickets at the ticket counters and go for the 1st class tickets (not just in nanjing). By default it's a 2nd class ticket. Business class tickets are available if it's a 16 car train, 8 car trains do not have business class.

Business Class (Shang Wu wei)
1st Class (Yi deng wei)
2nd Class (Er deng wei)

Business class is more expensive than 1st class cause the seats can lie flat I think. Do note business class is super expensive but great for super long rides if you can afford it (Shanghai - Beijing by high speed rail is 5 hours 30 mins or so I found out from an attendant). Can't remember where I put my photos of the business class...

Longest ride I've taken was from Nanjing - Hangzhou via Shanghai. The new Hangzhou - Nanjing has been open since last year so cut travel time from 2-3 hours to just 1 hour.

Quite fun riding the high speed rail I must say since we don't have that here in SE Asia.