Railway System
It is convenient, safe and cheap to use the long-distance trains in China. Train stations in many cities are fairly centrally located or at least conveniently placed next to a public transit center. Once you learn a few things about the trains and get used to them you should find them to be a fine way to get around China. Seat ClassesThere are 4 standard classes of seats: hard seat (yìngzuò), soft seat (ruǎnzuò), hard sleeper (yìngwò) and soft sleeper (ruǎnwò). |  Photo by Terry |
| Hard Seat (yìngzuò, 硬坐) There are 3 seats on each side of the aisle which makes this the most crowded choice. The seats are not as hard as wood but the upholstery is not as comfortable as the soft seats. They are also not as consistently clean. |  Hard seat on a T-class train. |
Soft Seat (ruǎnzuò, 软坐) This is a fairly comfortable seat. There are 2 seats on each side of the aisle. Getting a soft seat ticket will usually get you into a “soft seat lounge” as well. The soft seat lounges have sofas and are not as crowded as the hard seat lounges. |  Soft Seat on a T-class train. |
| Hard sleeper (yìngwò, 硬卧) Hard sleepers are usually arranged in a triple bunk bed type set up. There are two triple bunk beds in a berth (a berth is like a small door-less room). That is, there is one bed on the bottom, one on the middle and one on the top. On one side of the aisle there are triple bunk beds arranged perpendicular to the windows. Opposite every berth is one or two seats and a very small table. Sheets, blankets and pillows are included.  Hard sleeper. |  Hard sleeper aisle. |
Soft Sleeper (ruǎnwò, 软卧) There are both 2-bed berth and 4-bed berth soft sleepers. 4-bed berths are the standard. Due to the higher price, it is easier to book a ticket for a soft sleeper than it is for a hard sleeper. The beds are more comfortable and it’s a quieter environment inside. The berths are lockable. |  Soft Sleeper - Photo by Terry |
Train Classes
The chart below contains the more common train classes.
| Abbreviation | Pinyin | Characters | Brief Meaning in English |
| No Letter | Pukuai | 普快 | normal |
| N | Kuaisu | 快速 | fast |
| K | Kuaisu | 快速 | faster |
| T | Tekuai | 特快 | even faster |
| Z | Zhida | 直达 | faster still. Few or no stops. |
| D | D Zitou or Zidantou or Dongchezu | D字头 or 子弹头 or 动车组 | Bullet train (fastest). (pics) |
| Y | Luyou | 旅游 | travel |
| A or L | AnxuLinke, linkuai, linshi, linke | 按需临客, 临快, 临时, 临客 | temporary |
The video below is only in Chinese, but it shows the inside of the D class (bullet) trains well.
Inside the Train
Toilets Don’t expect them to be very hygienic. The rules from the other article about toilets also apply to toilets on trains. The picture to the left shows an overhead view of a squat toilet. Restaurant-car All long-distance trains should have a restaurant-car. The variety of food is surely less than your average Chinese restaurant but the price will be higher. Carts Carts are also pushed through by servers. You can buy snacks, maps and other little things. Sales People During a short trip you are likely to see a sales person give a 5 to 10 minute performance. Low price items such as toys and socks are sold. Water Don’t drink the water from the bathrooms. Boiled water should be available. Bottled water is also sold. Tickets and Tokens On overnight trains the attendant will swap your ticket with a token. Shortly before your stop is reached they will give you back your ticket in exchange for the token. This ensures you won’t miss your stop. |
How and When to Buy Tickets
You can get tickets at train stations, from hotels, travel agencies or railway ticket offices. The train stations typically have line-ups and these line-ups can become enormous during peak times. The ticket offices do not often have long line-ups and they only charge a 5 Yuan service fee. Travel agencies and hotels charge higher service fees.
Theoretically, tickets can be booked starting 10 days in advance and booking continues right until the train leaves. In practice, booking doesn’t always start 10 days in advance and sometimes even when booking begins many of the tickets are immediately not available at the train station. It’s best to get tickets early because trains can become fully booked anytime during the year.
The train system can become very busy during the 3 peak travel periods which are around May 1, Chinese new years and October 1. Actually, all transportation methods in China are busy during that time. It will be hardest to get tickets around Chinese New Years which is from the middle of January to the middle of February. As of the 2007 Spring Festival, prices at the train stations are no longer supposed to be raised. However, travel agencies may still increase their ticket prices during this time.
Tickets are needed to enter the departure station, board the train and exit the destination station.
Stations
Individual Stations
You can find information on individual stations for the cities listed below:
| Shanghai | Beijing | Nanjing |
| Shenzhen | Wuhan | Ningbo |
| Wuxi | Jinan | Qingdao |
| Kunming | Shenyang | Hangzhou |
| Chongqing | Xiamen | Guilin |
| Suzhou | Dalian | Xi`an |
| Chengdu | Lhasa | Shaoxing |
Theft
Theft can be a problem and is more likely when the train stations are packed during the peak seasons. It’s best to keep your valuables close to you.
Links
Seat 61 - More information on the Chinese Rail System.
People’s Daily Article - Ticket prices should not be raised during peak travel seasons anymore.
Links - Train Schedules
Where can you get 100% up-to-date train schedule information? Nowhere! Every 6 months a nation-wide "National Rail Timetable" is printed but it’s reported that even this can be inaccurate.
English language print-version train schedule - A translated and re-organized version of the National Rail Timetable.
Online English language train schedule - This could be checked for preliminary information.