Shanghai-Nanjing HSR: Timetable Changes (5 Nov 2011)

Posted on 4 November 2011 by David Feng

With effect from 5 November 2011:

  • Train G7042 will not stop at Baohuashan. This train will now additionally call at Zhenjiang (arr 08:56, dep 08:58).
  • Train G7122 will not stop at Danyang. This train will now additionally call at Baohuashan (arr 07:45, dep 07:47). Times of departure and arrival for this train at Zhenjiang will be: arr 07:30, dep 07:32.
  • Train G7124 will not stop at Kunshan South. This train will now additionally call at Danyang (arr 07:44, dep 07:45).
  • Train G7129 will not stop at Danyang. This train will now additionally call at Zhenjiang (arr 08:34, dep 08:36).

Other nationwide train schedule changes:

  • On 3, 5, 10, 12, and 17 November 2011, Trains L206/L207 will run from Nanjing West to Ürumqi.
  • On 6, 8, 13, 15, and 20 November 2011, Trains L208/L205 will run from Ürumqi to Nanjing West.
  • Trains L206/L207 will leave Nanjing West at 08:00. It will call at Nanjing, Bengbu, Xuzhou, Shangqiu, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Sanmenxia West, Xi’an, Baoji, Tianshui, Lanzhou, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Liuyuan, Hami, Shanshan, and Turpan. The train will arrive at Ürumqi at 23:05.
  • Trains L208/L205 will leave Ürumqi at 16:30. It will stop at all stations serviced by trains L206/L207. The train will arrive at Nanjing West the next day at 09:28.

Source: Sohu

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Beijing’s Second Airport: On Ice…

Posted on 2 November 2011 by David Feng

Somehow it didn’t make sense to add the world’s largest airport in the plans to a city which already has one of the world’s largest air terminals.

Either that, or… in any case, plans for Beijing’s second airport in Daxing have now been frozen. This comes at the same time as many new HSR routes have had works resume as the rail authorities get a fresh injection of cash.

Most troubling was the idea that the second airport didn’t consider getting a stop on the projected Beijing-Kowloon HSR (or it had to “make do” with a slower rail line of sorts).

In the meantime, Beijing itself has plans for a grand total of seven stations serving the main city’s rail hub, and there are new planned links to Shijiazhuang, Kowloon, Tangshan, Shenyang, Zhangjiakou (Kalgan), and Shenzhen. That’s a little hint, maybe, that the second airport might just be a little superflous…

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Faster and Quicker: Guangzhou-Shenzhen Segment of Beijing-Hong Kong HSR To Open Early 2012

Posted on 28 October 2011 by David Feng

The long-awaited Guangzhou-Shenzhen segment of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR will finally open up in early in January 2012, in time for the 2012 Spring Festival peak travel season.

This stretch of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR will be 142 km in length (which includes the Hong Kong segment). Trains will take about 30 minutes to run the stretch from Guangzhou South to Shenzhen North, and will run through:

  • Beijing
    …
    Shijiazhuang
    …
    Wuhan
    …
    Guangzhou South
  • Qingsheng
  • Humen
  • Guangming
  • Shenzhen North
    Shenzhen Futian
    West Kowloon (Hong Kong)

Missing now are the trains. Due to the lack of CRH380BL trains (recalled to optimize security systems on these trains), China’s HSR faces a temporary trainset shortage, but news is coming out that an increasing number of these recalled CRH380BL trains are slowly heading back onto the rails for tests and eventual re-entry into service.

In nearly-finalized schedules circulating on Sina Weibo, 70 “pairs” of trains will run on this line every day (a “pair” counts itself as a train running both ways: that’s a train to Shenzhen and a train back to Guangzhou). However, when the line first opens, all passengers must board and exit at Guangzhou South even if coming from destinations further north.

To make sure enough trains are available, some trains will remain “borrowed” from other railway bureaus. There are plans to transfer 14 CRH3C trainsets from the Beijing and Shanghai Railway Bureaus (together; not 14 per bureau). Of these, 9 trainsets will enter service on the new line. Initially, only 6 trainsets will service the new line, so we will probably only see 38 pairs of trains daily.

In future, though, we might see as many as 20 pairs of trains running on this line from Wuhan straight to Shenzhen North. It’ll get even more exciting once the Beijing-Shijiazhuang and Shijiazhuang-Wuhan segments open. It’ll probably take you just around 8 hours to reach the capital from Shenzhen!

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Is That Tibetan Mineral Water Gone From Chinese HSR Trains?

Posted on 27 October 2011 by David Feng

A little bit disturbing that you don’t get a free drink any more when you take local HSR trains…

The drink itself, though, is a tad controversial: it’s the Tibet 5100 mineral water. We’ll dump the politics and go into the money: it is said that this company that makes this brand of mineral water was under the control of the wife of former rail minister Liu Zhijun, and that your HSR ticket costed a bit more because it “included” a free drink.

What a gift — you get a drink for free and are “forced” to pay for one even if you’re not willing to grab one!

It’s pretty scary… not only are you getting less on regional HSR trains, but there are also photos going around on the Web which show that newer still bottles of that kind of mineral water offer you a mere 328 ml instead of 330 ml.

Two millilitres won’t probably be enough for you to sue the mineral water company, but not dropping the price by even a cent does hurt — consumers, in particular. We’re paying the same for less water — think of it this way, we’re paying more for the same or even less!

At last count, those who travelled on major long-distance HSR routes still got their own mineral water for free. Have some revenge by travelling Business Class on major HSR routes, where you’re afforded the opportunity to drink as much water as you can in the VIP waiting room! (Just don’t waste any! It’s bad karma for ya…)

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Sheng Guangzu’s Plans for Chinese Railways: Some Improvements Planned

Posted on 26 October 2011 by David Feng

We were thinking of hanging up on our present-day makeshift “rail dude”, Sheng Guangzu. I mean, this guy crashed two trains in Wenzhou, and made the cops sniff where you went on the HSR with the “real ID” requirement.

And then probably Sheng realized that he needed to do some deeper, more “meaningful” changes than “just” lowering, say, the refund fees. Here’s a little into more enhancements in the works…

FOR HSR TRAVELLERS

  • All ticket gates to support PRC ID cards: Right now, if you are a PRC citizen with a second-generation ID card, you’re allowed to use these to ride trains as long as you have a valid online ticket — provided you travel only on “main line” stops on the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway and the Beijing-Shanghai HSR. By late November 2011, however, that service will come to all G train stations. There’s also talk of adding in support for a rail credit or debit card, although details here are still a little sketchy.
  • Preparation for the Beijing-Shijiazhuang stretch of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR and the Harbin-Dalian HSR: By summer 2012, the dream of travelling from Beijing to Guangzhou or into the great northeast by HSR will be reality. Rail authorities will be planning schedules on these routes as soon as possible.
  • More assistance for wheelchair riders: CRH trains will soon sport special signage guiding wheelchair riders, who will be seated at a particular part of the train during the journey.

FOR REGULAR RAIL TRAVELLERS

  • Cheaper food and drink: the era of the CNY 2 mineral water and the CNY 15 lunch box (or prices lower than that!) will soon be with us on the rails. Food safety will also be a “big thing”.
  • 500 new regular rail train carriages to be with us soon: and along with that, there’s also the promise to upgrade existing carriages and to offer new rail services on regular liens.

FOR ALL TRAVELLERS

  • More service for disabled rail riders: In addition to providing wheelchair riders on HSR with more signage in trains, major stations will also have wheelchair-optimized ticket counters (starting as early as late November 2011).
  • Better station services: the more convenient “high platforms” (standard at nearly all HSR stations) will be seen more and more. Also part of that will be guidance markers for blind riders, as well as more elevators.
  • More information during train delays: this will probably affect regular rail riders more, but you might soon see an improvement in passenger information reporting when trains suddenly stop in the middle of nowhere.
  • Cleaner trains: also part of this is a new requirement that all toilets come with toilet paper. Still, we advise you to carry a few on your own anyway — there’s life after the trains, and your “midway” emergency loo might lack TP!

Let’s at least give Sheng Guangzu a little more time and one more chance. OK?

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Beijing: Exit A, Military Museum Subway Station, Out of Use Until Autumn 2012

Posted on 25 October 2011 by David Feng

Works on Subway Line 9 are progressing at a steady rate. After digging a hole underneath Yuyuantan Lake, we’re seeing the end of that bit of work.

As Line 9 connects to Line 1 at the Military Museum Subway Station, they’ll be building an interchange passageway at that station. This means that Exit A at this stop will be out of use until 28 September 2012 — a clear sign that Line 9 will be ready for autumn 2012.

This might be a bit of a problem if you wanted to get to the Chinese Millennium Monument or the old CCTV Tower, but you can “cheat” by using Exit B, placed on the same side of the road.

Line 9 opens at the end of the year for those travelling between the Guogongzhuang terminus and the Beijing West Railway Station. The whole of Line 9 is expected to open before October 2012.

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Harbin-Dalian HSR Ready to Rock in July 2012

Posted on 24 October 2011 by David Feng

And it rocks exactly a year after the Beijing-Shanghai HSR took off.

The Harbin-Dalian (Hada) HSR (哈大高速铁路) will be ready to ferry riders from Heilongjiang’s capital, Harbin, down to Dalian in Liaoning, in under 4 hours’ time as of July 2012. (The original line was scheduled for a 1 October 2011; however, Sheng Guangzu, the present person in charge of the Chinese mainland authorities responsible for railway transport, delayed this and nearly all projects.) Trial runs (not carrying passengers) are tentatively scheduled for early March 2012.

If trains running on this line are also “extended” to Beijing, travel time will fall from over 9 hours to less than 6 hours, based on a rough calculation and with the present temporary speed limits considered. That’s about 2 hours faster than the original Beijing-Harbin Railway before the temporary speed limits were introduced.

Final station for this line up in northeastern China is the Harbin West Railway Station, which will host Harbin Metro Line 3 upon its completion in late 2012. This new station easily knocks the existing two stations, Harbin and Harbin East, off the map in terms of size, traffic and glitziness.

This line will service northeastern China’s Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, and call at four major train hubs: Harbin (West), Changchun, Shenyang and Dalian. In the city of Changchun, riders can also change to express intercity trains headed to the city of Jilin (inside the province of Jilin — confused?…).

We are predicting that the CRH380 trains will service this new line as the present-day CRH5 trains are too slow (this line is designed for speeds up to 350 km/h, but CRH5 trains “max out” at a “mere” 350 km/h).

The other difficulty is the weather in this part of China. Winters here can be hellishly cold, so no “real” work can get underway during the final months of the year. The opening next year ends a 5-year HSR marathon for northeastern China.

Travel time from Beijing to Harbin will further fall to around 5 hours (based even on the temporary speed limits) if future trains leave Beijing via Beijing South via Tianjin to Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Shenyang and Changchun before reaching Harbin. Ultimate relief comes in the form of a totally-new Beijing-Shenyang HSR, which, when it opens by late 2015 (according to the 12th Five-Year Plan), will slash travel time to 4 hours if trains run at the maximum speed limit — 350 km/h — throughout.

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Breaking News: Two Killed, Two Injured by CRH Train in Shenzhen

Posted on 23 October 2011 by David Feng

Coming out from Sina Weibo: This just in — four unauthorized pedestrians who made their way onto a railway bridge suffered a collision with a CRH train on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway. The exact location is around the Pinghu stretch in Shenzhen, Guangdong. One of the pedestrians, a 19-year-old from western China’s Gansu province, was hit so badly that he was literally torn into two by the force of the oncoming train.

This railway has been upgraded some time back to permit speeds of up to 200 km/h. Half of the railway is now frequently served by CRH accelerated trains (the other half is reserved for long-distance rail traffic and traffic to and from Hong Kong).

Riders are reminded to exercise extra caution if travelling by CRH trains on this railway for at least the next few weeks. In the meantime, the Weibo community also mentions that crashes are (unfortunately) not rare on this route. This article will be updated as needed.

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Shijiazhuang-Wuhan Stretch of Beijing-Hong Kong High Speed Rail Nearly Ready

Posted on 22 October 2011 by David Feng

The Shijiazhuang to Wuhan stretch of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR is getting increasingly closer to completion, following reports that tracks have been laid in full on this stretch.

This bit of the Beijing-Hong Kong HSR starts from Shijiazhuang and ends in Wuhan. In Wuhan it connects to the already open Wuhan-Guangzhou stretch. The southernmost Guangzhou-Hong Kong stretch is “getting busy” as well: trains are already running on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen stretch, and the all-underground Hong Kong part is a continuing work in progress.

The Beijing to Shijiazhuang bit is also nearing completion, after tackling the bit by Dujiakan. When the whole stretch is done within a year’s time (unfortunately delayed due to the rail management shakeup), trains will link Beijing to Hong Kong. When the whole stretch runs up to 350 km/h, travel time will be slashed from 24 hours to just around 8.

And at that time you’ll wonder why the planes are still in the sky…

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Business Class on the CRH380AL: Not Always in Car 3…

Posted on 16 October 2011 by David Feng

20111016-113935.jpg

Ah, Business Class. Where your seat becomes an instant lay-flat bed in 30 seconds after you summon it by the push of a button. That’s the good thing. The bad: it’s prohibitively expensive. And they only come in limited numbers…

Less-good still is the fact that where the universal rule was that all longer CRH380 trains featured them in Car 3, that rule is now no longer the case. We’ve seen trains where Business Class became now relegated to Car 1 (or Car 16). That means the number of lie-flat seats are now down to 20 (instead of 28). Car 3 on these trainsets are now the domain of First Class seats. Presently, Train G18 has been confirmed by us to use these “remixed” trains.

However, that’s only true for trains running on the Shijiazhuang-Wuhan HSR, slated for an opening just months away. As I’ve found out through different rail info sources, all Beijing-Shanghai trains still come with a full Business Class Coach. So why the two standards now? The modified trains from the Shijiazhuang-Wuhan HSR are now with us to cope with the lack of trains on the Beijing-Shanghai HSR, following the recall of CRH380BL trains in the late summer. When they’re back, though, you’ll have 8 more lie-flat seats to play around with!

For those who prefer travelling completely alone in a one-person-only seat, the casualties are a bit greater there are 6 such seats (plus 2 non lie-flat one-person sofas) on the remixed trains as opposed to 12 (plus 2). Still, we hope that there will be better trains ahead.

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