China. About train travel all the most important things I've come across

At present, China is booming high-speed rail construction. With the support of the state and thanks to special measures, by the end of 2020 the total length of the high-speed rail network will reach 18,000 km. In technological terms, the organization of high-speed rail communication occurs through technology transfer agreements from reputable foreign manufacturers, such as the Canadian Bombardier, the French company Alstom, and the Japanese Kawasaki. By adopting foreign technology, China is striving to make its own developments based on them, such as the development of the CRH-380A series trains, which set a record for China's high-speed roads, about 500 km / h. But I traveled by trains at a more modest speed - about 350 km / h, and I can say with confidence that if Chinese trains are not inferior in speed, for example, to the same Japanese Shinkansen, then in terms of quality of service, cleanliness and comfort, of course, they still have some way to go...


Chinese trains vary in speed and class of service. To designate each train, a Latin letter is used (for example: D, T, K, C, Z) followed by the train number or, more rarely, just the train number. I took a picture of one of my tickets with instructions on how to figure out what is indicated on it.


Understanding the principle is not difficult, but it is very, very important to know - at which particular station of the city you need this train arrives !!! If there is a transfer ahead, then from which station the next train leaves. In Beijing, as it turned out, there are 5 railway stations !!!
I will give the Chinese designations of Beijing railway stations, in case anyone needs it, because I myself got confused:

• Beijing Central Station ( 北京站 )


• Beijing West Station ( 北京西站 )


• Beijing South Station ( 北京南站 )


• Beijing North Station ( 北京北站 )


• Beijing East Station ( 北京 东站 )

If you are planning to travel in China by train, the following information about train categories and types of carriages in China may be useful.
If the train number contains the letter G, D or C, then we are talking about high-speed trains, and I advise you to use them when traveling, you don’t want to spend extra time traveling between cities, because these types of trains are one of the fastest and most comfortable.
Category trains G: The fastest and best, reach speeds up to 350 km / h, daytime trains.
Category trains D: Second fastest. On some night trains long distance compartment cars are available.
Category trains C: High-speed trains. They travel between neighboring cities.

After you decide on the train, you need to select the class of your seat, there are only 4 of them in high-speed trains: 2nd class, 1st class, premium and business. All seats are installed with the direction exclusively in the direction of the train, when the train changes its direction (I had this), the chairs are turned over 180 degrees. In the night high-speed trains of category D, there are compartment cars and luxury class compartment cars.
Advice (of course, based on their financial capabilities) - take a premium or business class, there are seats for one or 2 people similar to business class seats on an airplane, in other classes for 3 people, and you yourself understand which flavors you will have to be all the road and it will obviously be fragrances not from CHANEL. In addition, you will be given a bottle of water and a bag of snacks, and for a trip over 4 hours, a lunch with a choice of dishes is offered.


Safety!
Get ready to be safe in the zone railway station the relevant authorities are treated with maniacal responsibility. All things will be examined as when boarding an airplane, people are also examined with special care, tickets and passports - EVERYTHING is checked, and at some stations this check is carried out twice! In addition, seeing off and meeting people are not allowed on the territory of the station, so you will have to navigate the schedule, the train boarding area, etc. on your own.
Here comes the most interesting part of the "Marleson ballet"J As I would put it in China, everything is oriented for the Chinese, so the scoreboard will look like this.


Those. in the best case, you will be able to identify your train number with a Latin letter (if it is present, sometimes the train number consists only of numbers). Next is the number of the platform and platform - a guessing game in the Chinese style. However, for experienced travelers like us, even such a scoreboard has been deciphered, so now we can safely go to Mars!


They begin to let the train onto the platform no earlier than 15 minutes in advance, so you can find your way in advance on your own or try to find out from the non-English speaking station staff where to run with your clothes by pointing your finger at your ticket with a dumb question in your eyes (practice at home on just in case for a dumb question).
Keep your ticket all the way until you arrive at your final destination, because you will need to put it in the turnstile, and it will also be checked on the train itself.


They want trains exactly on schedule, minute by minute, parking at the stations is only 1-2 minutes, so I do not recommend smoking lovers to leave the car for this need. There were cases when tourists remain in this way at the closed doors of the train without anything at all, but with a pack of cigarettes.


And finally, it is quite difficult to buy a train ticket without being in China. Therefore, either rely on "maybe" and buy tickets already in China at the box office of the station, but not for Chinese New Year- this is generally an impossible mission for any money, or use the services of a travel agency in your region, which will help you in advance with this issue.

Thinking aloud, opus no. 6. Trains are sometimes interesting to travel not only in terms of convenience. When you look out the window, you can see something that you don’t pay attention to when you are in the place of stay ...


Firstly, I was surprised by the perfect cleanliness throughout the long train journey, no garbage on the sides of the tracks at all. By the way, the cleanliness in China this time shocked me in general, not a speck, not a cigarette butt, not a piece of paper - ANYWHERE. It was interesting to know that since recently all janitors have been made civil servants, and this has always been extremely honorable in China. And after a year of such work, all the doors of other state institutions of the country are open to you, so people are extremely holding on to such a prestigious job, scrupulously cleaning everything around.


Secondly, the agricultural fields are ideally sown up to the railway, sometimes it even seemed that everything looked so perfect that you were driving through Japan.


Thirdly, there are a lot of completely futuristic-looking industrial facilities, I was directly staring at them. In a word, you will not be bored on the road, and this experience will definitely complement your knowledge of the traveler.

In China, between Beijing and Shanghai ply high speed trains which consist only of sleeping cars. In a way, this is an analogy of our reserved seat, but it looks different. Channel "1520. Everything about the railway" showed and explained how everything works here.

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When viewed from the outside, it seems that the carriage is double-decker, but this is not so. In fact, this is an ordinary train, but the windows are located separately for the passengers of the upper and lower rows.

Photo from cfts.org.ua

Photo from cfts.org.ua

There are no compartments in the carriages, only reserved seats, however, it is possible to create a personal space by closing the curtain from prying eyes.

The berths are arranged as in our reserved seats, but they are longer (195 cm) due to the fact that the traveler's legs are retracted into a "box", which at the same time serves as a table for another.

Photo from cfts.org.ua

At the same time, the upper ones are located offset to each other, as if our two side shelves were side by side.

Photo from cfts.org.ua

As a result, we see - in the middle of the car there is a passage, and on the sides there are two rows of seats. For those who ride at the top, a ladder is provided. There is enough space on the second shelf to not only lie down, but also sit.

One of the main advantages is that all places can be closed with curtains, creating a comfort zone for yourself so that no one interferes.

Each passenger has their own table, socket and light bulb.

Are you planning a trip? Calculate the cost of a plane or train ticket at competitive prices by simply entering in the field below the city of departure and arrival, as well as the date that is convenient for you.

They accelerate to 300 km per hour and allow you to quickly and expensively travel around the country. By the end of 2015, China had more than 19,000 km of high-speed rail, and by 2020, the Chinese are going to build another 23,000 km (at a cost of 2.8 trillion yuan) and connect all big cities countries.

Last year, the Chinese even offered to build a high-speed railway to Vladivostok, but this idea is still stuck at the level of negotiations. Apparently, the Chinese do not want to invest their own funds in the corridor for our shuttles, demanding also Russian participation, and this is now difficult. By the way, in China itself, that the leadership of the PRC spends a lot of money on railways.

It is not yet possible to cover the whole country with local copies of Siemens and Bombardier. Most of western China, where there are mostly mountains and deserts, has not yet been conquered. In the south, there are also branches that are not duplicated by high-speed ones. So there are ordinary trains in China with compartment cars, lace curtains on the windows and tea in cup holders. On one of these trains I went from Dali to Kunming - only 250 km, but the journey took 7 hours!

01. Chinese stations are huge multi-storey buildings with offices and shops.

02. Railway Station Square

03. Parking is a complete mess, it is impossible to approach with a suitcase.

04. Everything is packed with cars very tightly.

05. Police box on station square. So that no one would get the policeman with questions, he fenced himself off with a ribbon.

06. There is a paid waiting room at the station! It costs 20 yuan (220 rubles).

07. For this money they will pour boiling water, take luggage for storage.

08. This is what the hall looks like.

09. Luggage storage at the station. The cost of storage is 15 yuan (160 rubles) for two suitcases. All things are checked on the scanner.

10. There are no elevators at the station, instead, such ramps are made in the middle of the stairs, it is impossible to use them.

11. Shop

12. You can buy alcohol on the road.

13. Only passengers with tickets are allowed into the station, at the entrance everyone is checked by their passport and entered into a computer, things shine through, passengers are searched. Everything is like at the airport.

14. Free waiting room

15.

16.

17. They let you out onto the platform only when the train has arrived, you can’t go down earlier.

18. There are also no normal ramps or an elevator to go down.

19. Wagon

20. Everything is like ours)

21. Sticker with the route.

22. Chinese railway worker

23. Coupe like ours

24. Carpets are beautiful, with patterns!

25. The linen is clean (I would like to think so), immediately filled.

26. Trash bowl. There are no outlets, they are in the hallway.

27. Before departure, they carry food.

28. And this is an economy class car, like our reserved seat.

29. There are no doors in the compartment and 3 rows of shelves instead of two.

30. In the vestibule - open washbasins. Comfortable

31.

32. Arrived at the final

33.

34.

35. Cleaner

36.

37. Exit from the station. In general, it is not easy to navigate at Chinese stations for those who do not know Chinese.

38. Here, street vendors sell food with might and main.

39. Early breakfast

40.

There is such a cool blogger Kim Korshunov, he is also a columnist for the program "Miracle of Technology" on NTV, he is also the editor-in-chief of the website and channel of the same name onyoutube . He decided to travel from Shanghai to Beijing by train.

There were three options: either a super-fast train, which everyone probably saw in some programs. Either a regular reserved seat, like ours, or a luxury version of a reserved seat (these are the newest trains, there are about a dozen of them for the whole of China).

Ticket price

The fastest option travels 1,500 km from Shanghai to Beijing in 4.3 hours. But a ticket costs about the same as a plane ticket. Most a budget option costs about 2000 rubles. The cars there are almost exactly the same as ours. Well, the price, in fact, too.

The intermediate option, which Kim called "the coolest reserved seat in the world," costs about 6,000 rubles at the rate. Expensive, but there are a few points. Firstly, this is a suite (more on that below), and secondly, a ticket was bought on the day of departure, one can say an hour before departure (if you take it in advance, it will be cheaper, and if you use some benefits, even cheaper). Thirdly, such a train takes only 11 hours. In our country, for comparison, the train would travel this distance in 16 or even 20 hours.

Separately, I want to say about the purchase of tickets. RZD is much more convenient. I went into the application, bought a ticket in 5 clicks and that's it. No paperwork, no lines, no cash.

Train

Outside, the train is very similar to our Sapsan. Well, in terms of speed, in fact, it is also about the same. Plain cruising speed- 120-160 km / h. There were 3 stops along the way.

From the side, the train seems to be double-decker, because the windows are in two rows, but in size it is about the same as a regular Russian single-decker car. There is no second floor, just the lower and upper passengers have their own small windows. With your own curtains. And in general, despite the fact that this is a reserved seat, personal space is separated as much as possible - more on that later.

In the wagon

As such, there are no carriages on the train. The whole train is a long "gut" without doors and vestibules, like ours. On the one hand, this is good, you can move around on the ride.

On the other hand, there is nowhere to smoke. If someone snores loudly or some child throws a tantrum, then it will be heard not only in one carriage. Also, the whole train will have to listen to the knocking of the doors to the toilet. And they knock. But it is noteworthy that they do not clap and, despite good sound insulation, there is silence in the whole train.

Guides and tea

When boarding the train, no one checks any documents, although then the conductor still passes through the train. I don’t know how many conductors for the whole train, but it seems that there is only one. That is, one conductor and 2 cleaners (yes, in China, a conductor and a cleaner are different people).

In addition to the fact that the absence of a large number of conductors is a cost reduction, in principle they are not needed. But there is no one to order the other side of the seagulls, no one gives out cups for free. You also need to bring chess with you. Nobody sells cookies and newspapers, souvenirs and lottery tickets too.

The restaurant car is just a counter where you can buy a local "Doshirak" and some garbage. But no tea, by the way.

The car has free drinking water. But it does not surprise us, we also have it.

Toilet

A toilet is like a toilet. Nothing special. There is no soul, if anyone is interested. Toilets are located in pairs, opposite each other. Toilets, of course, bio. Everything is clean, it smells nice (there is a hanging flavor like "Christmas tree").

A distinctive feature - in addition to small sinks in the toilet room itself, there are also sinks nearby. That is, if you just need a sink to wash yourself or wash something, you don’t need to occupy the toilet.

Space organization

As I said, the car is reserved seat, but all the time I want to call the seats compartments, because everyone has their own place. I would even say that this reserved seat provides much more privacy and convenience than our compartments.

Each place has its own curtain. You can close and no one will disturb you.

Normal ladders lead to the second floor and no one will step on your bed, on your table and so on. And if the curtain is closed, then you won’t even notice that someone climbs or descends.

I am very pleased that all the seats are located along the car, and not across (hello, Russian Railways), so no one's legs stick out in the aisle. This is a really huge plus. Moreover, the seats are arranged in such a way that you can stretch out to your full height, more on that later. In general, you walk calmly, you don’t dodge your legs, you don’t smell other people’s socks, the passage turns out to be wide.

Personal space

Your place in the Chinese reserved seat is not just a place on a bench and a bunk - it's just a small room, albeit with a curtain instead of a door. The curtain, by the way, is very high quality and with magnets so that it does not open. In general, I must say that everything is done efficiently, reliably, powerfully. At least that's the impression.

Everyone has a table at their disposal (and on the second floor too!), everyone has personal lighting (German by the way from Schneider Electric), a spotlight for reading, a universal socket (American plug, European and USB), a mesh pocket and three hooks for clothes.

With hooks, however, a small embarrassment. Since all the hooks are above the bed, it will not work to hang a long coat or a fur coat - the floors will somehow lie on the bed and interfere.

As I said at the beginning, everyone has their own window. And each window has its own personal curtain. It's cool actually. Such a small corner. No need to fight with anyone and argue about whether to open the curtain or close it.

Bed

Let's start with the fact that all the places have already been filled (both above and below), there are slippers of different colors nearby (apparently, so that the neighbors do not confuse). The bag can be removed under the bed - half an elephant will fit there.

On the bed you can sit at the table. You can sit with your legs stretched out on the bed, leaning your head against the wall, on which a soft headrest is prudently made.

There are no mattresses in Chinese trains, instead of them something like a soft blanket, then a sheet, a blanket, a pillow. The pillow, by the way, is buckwheat.

The length of the bed is approximately 2.0 meters. And this, by the way, is surprising, because the average height of the Chinese is 165 cm for men and 155 for women (it seems that the new Russian Railways cars were made just according to Chinese standards, because an ordinary European does not fit there in any way).

In general, as you can see, Chinese new trains have both pluses and minuses. I like Russian Railways more in some things, but in terms of organizing personal space, Chinese cars are definitely better. Something reminiscent of capsule hotels, only harder. And one more thing: in some surprising way, the cars have a very smooth ride. No jerks, pitching, jerking and quiet.

How are you? Which wagons do you think are better: ours or Chinese?

Greetings, dear readers!

How many times have you traveled by train? Surely, many went to the resorts of the Black Sea, overcoming thousands of kilometers of railway tracks in a comfortable reserved seat car. And the smell of boiled eggs and fresh cucumber will undoubtedly take you to fabulous memories of a long-awaited vacation.

In our case, the rest was just as long-awaited, but the destination was Harbin, and the scene was . But on the way back we were already waiting for a reserved seat car, with its own unique surroundings. About everything in order. Our train departs in the direction of Manchuria-Harbin. Tuu-tuuuu, let's go!

Let's start with the fact that a high-speed railway has not yet been laid in the north of China. But all the trains following this direction are very worthy, clean and comfortable.

At the railway station, you are offered three categories of seats:

1. seated car;
2. Recumbent solid wagon;
3. Recumbent soft car.

Since the path is not close at about 13:00, and upon arrival, not one free minute. We decided to take it there to rest and sleep. And on the way back “was not there” they took a reserved seat car.

The price varies greatly depending on the category. A sit-down car is very cheap even for long-distance destinations. Later we learned that the seats are soft chairs without reclining backs. So if you are used to moving long distances while sitting, this option is for you. I think we will try this “economy class” on our next trip.

Chinese compartment car

Here we are right there! We go in, looking for our compartment. I was so staring at everything around that I just flew the whole car and did not notice our seats. But it's not scary, tickets are on hand, so we'll all go to places. We open the door, places 7 and 5 (lower), go in and .... I can't believe my eyes, everything is very good! Clean linen is already laid out, a wonderful fresh smell, not a drop of tobacco smoke (this is unique for China), spacious and the sleeping place is much wider than in Russian carriages.

On the table is a liter thermos, still empty. The table is very small, of course you can’t eat chicken on this! The maximum that fits on it is two cups of tea and two plates of instant noodles, such a “china-style”.

Also in the compartment there are hangers, a bunch of hooks for anything, disposable slippers, wi-fi and a Chinese radio. But this is a pleasure for amateurs, we had enough for 2 minutes of listening.

Having settled in, putting on white slippers, we set off to explore the expanses of the car. Visited the washroom for three persons. Not a very clean room, cold water, but a bonus - a huge mirror. This is a note to selfie lovers in unusual places.

The toilet room was pleased with the relative cleanliness and lack of smell inherent in this place.

Opposite the toilet room is another washbasin in which, next to it, there is a tank of boiling water. By the way, in China there is boiling water in all public places Oh. Therefore, they always have a thermos of tea with them. Such a culture!

Along the corridor of the compartment car, near the windows, there are comfortable folding seats where you can sit and think about everything, because there is more than a lot of time. And of course, there are 220 V sockets.

We traveled to Hailar alone, in a romantic atmosphere. But this is China, there are still not enough people to enjoy loneliness. In Hailar, the sweetest adult Chinese couple sat down with us. A very pleasant woman and an interesting talkative man.

Here the most interesting began! As you already know, we have been living in Manchuria for quite a long time and this city borders on Russia. Many Chinese know Russian to one degree or another, so it is extremely difficult to put their knowledge of the language into practice. Since, if you start speaking Chinese, and the Chinese do not understand the first time, then it is easier for them to switch to Russian. This is where the whole practice of the language ends. But here is another matter, our neighbors in the compartment absolutely do not understand Russian. And this is in our favor - a great opportunity in an emergency to activate all our knowledge. It was incredibly interesting for us, because if the first time we did not understand, then we were repeated again and again until we fully understood. We also had the opportunity to repeat everything in several interpretations, pronouncing the correct tone, observing all the rules for pronouncing sounds, and we were understood. It's amazing to know that your training was not in vain, and you can speak and understand what is being said.

In the course of the conversation, it turned out that our fellow travelers had been to Russia and they liked our country (all Chinese like Russian open spaces). This wonderful married couple owns 4 hotels that are scattered all over China, from Hailar and Beijing to the Chinese coast. The hotels have the style of such nice cozy villas, with lots of parks and fountains in oriental style. They promoted us these havens of travelers in all their glory.

Probably, you, like us then, are wondering: what do such wealthy gentlemen do on the train? After all, the plane is a much more comfortable way to travel.

Despite financial well-being and accessibility to all the benefits of civilization, people may have problems that are not so easy to solve. A talkative man has two ailments: fear of heights (acrophobia) and fear of enclosed spaces (claustrophobia). So they travel thousands of miles by train, monitoring their hotels as needed. Now it became clear to us why the man often went out into the corridor without the addiction of smoking.

The night came unnoticed. The voices subsided, the corridor was empty, everyone dispersed to their shelves, the lights went out. Only the rhythmic clatter of the wheels lulled me to sleep, but prevented Artyom from falling asleep. The stoker fired up the train's stove. Dry air entered the lungs with a whistle and came out of them with a heavy pressure. Lounging on a spacious bunk like a starfish, wrapped in a light padding blanket like the foam of salty waves, I peacefully plunged into the deepest sleep.

Chinese reserved seat car

After a fast-flying journey, we again went to the station. But now we had to spend the evening and night in a spacious six-seater section. Yes, yes, that's right. In each section of the reserved seat car there are three sleeping shelves on each side, for a total of six seats. Where there is a luggage rack in Russian trains, here is the third level. But a free corridor, the same as in the compartment car. And instead of side shelves, folding seats.

Having flown first into the car, we found our seats, or rather the number of sections 3 - 4. And we were pleasantly surprised that the section was closed. Now I will explain. Everything looks the same as in an ordinary compartment, with the only difference that there is no door, but there are walls that isolate from the corridor. It's brilliant! When moving around the car, you do not need to hold your breath as you pass the “fragrant” legs of passengers who, like zombies from horror films, pounce on you from every corner. The same wide berths, a made bed and the same table as in the compartment.

The restroom is made in the traditional railway style, it seems to me that for public places this is the perfect “hole in the floor”. Washrooms are ascetic and spacious.

The corridor is just as spacious and lively, because the necessary energy resources are located in the walls in the form of 220 V sockets.

Of course, we are incredibly lucky with our neighbors. It was a young tall Asian in aristocratic glasses. A middle-aged woman who sat in the corridor until late at night. And a man who slept quietly all the way.

After busy days in Harbin, the train ride turned out to be a less useless pastime. As soon as I had the opportunity to lie down, I pulled the mask over my face and instantly passed out. I woke up only the next day in the morning, when we were already approaching Manchuria. I have never had to spend 13 hours so quickly and unconsciously.

I can summarize the following, the Chinese reserved seat car is a decent way to travel at a minimal cost.

Travel on different transport, to different places, try new food, explore the features of the visited territories, always look at the world with a smile and joy.

All the best and happiness, your Alena A.