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An electronic display board at Shanghai south railway station with a list of departuresTicket offices usually have display board showing availability of tickets on various trains in various classes, for a few days ahead. In the image shown above, the board shows data for a few K, L, and "general" trains. The great majority of seats available are in "hard seat" (often, "no seat", 无座) category
Every train route has an identification number of two to five characters arranged by the Ministry of Railways. The first character can be alphabetic or numeric, while the second to fifth characters are all numeric.
Trains are classified as either up (even-numbered) trains or down (odd-numbered) trains. Since the capital Beijing is treated as the focal point of the rail network, trains from Beijing are down services (e.g. the T109 from Beijing to Shanghai), while trains towards Beijing are up services (e.g. the T110 from Shanghai to Beijing).
Trains that do not go either to or from Beijing are similarly designated up or down based on whether the railway they are traveling on would eventually lead them away from or towards Beijing. For example, the Z90 from Guangzhou to Shijiazhuang is an up service as it travels from Guangzhou in the direction of Beijing, but terminates in Shijiazhuang before reaching the capital.
Some longer routes change from being an up service to a down service, or vice versa, mid-route, with more than one reversal being possible on the same route. In this case, the train would have two designations. For example, the G1202 and G1205 both refer to the same train from Harbin to Shanghai. From Harbin as far as Tianjin West Railway Station, the service is the G1202 up service traveling in the "up-direction" of the Beijing–Harbin High-Speed Railway towards Beijing, but after Tianjin West the train begins traveling away from Beijing down the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway towards Shanghai, becoming the G1205 in the process. Note that this is not to be confused with the G1208/G1205 from Qingdao to Harbin, which also switches at Tianjin West.
The Z31/Z34 from Wuchang to Ningbo is a more complicated example. It starts as the Z31 down service from Wuchang to Zhuji, traveling away from Beijing. At Zhuji, it becomes the Z34 up service towards Beijing. However, one stop later at Shaoxing, it reverts to being the Z31.
Types
The preceding letter of route identifier indicates the type of the passenger train, often determined by the speed and the stop patterns.
The types of train services available since 2015 include:
The high-speed rail (HSR, Chinese:高铁; pinyin:Gāotiě) network in China is the world's longest and most extensively used. The network encompasses newly built rail lines with a design speed of 200 to 380 km/h (120 to 240 mph). The network accounts for two-thirds of the world's total high-speed railway networks. Almost all trains, track and service are owned and operated by the China Railway Corporation under the brand China Railway High-speed (CRH).
G ("Gaosu Dongche", 高速动车; High Speed EMU Train)
This series consists of long-distance high-speed trains. These are generally the fastest services available and their top speed can be up to 350km/h (217mph), but a considerable portion of the network only allows for travel speeds under 320km/h (200mph). G1–G5998 is used for services running through multiple railway bureaux, while G6001–G9998 is used for those running within one railway bureau. G trains never run overnight and thus have no sleeper car.
This series was introduced after the sixth rise in speed of the railway on April 18, 2007. Their top speed is usually limited to 250–200km/h operationally. These services are run using CRH series electric multiple units (EMUs) named "Harmony" (Chinese:和谐号, Héxiéhào). The designations D1–D3998 are used for services running through multiple railway bureaux, the designations D4001–D9998 for those running within one railway bureau. "D" services can run on high-speed lines, upgraded conventional lines or even over conventional railways at conventional speeds for a portion of their journey to connect some cities off the high-speed network.
D-series trains provide relatively fast frequent service between main cities in China. For example:
Furthermore, a few other nighttime D trains also run on longer routes, such as the services between Shanghai and Beijing.
C ("Chengji Dongche", 城际动车; Intercity EMU Train)
This series was introduced after August 1, 2008 with the opening of Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Rail. They represent EMU services within a metropolitan region, and mainly run within one railway bureau. The top speed is 350km/h (220mph) (e.g. Beijing-Tianjin) but many run at speeds from 200 to 160km/h. The designations C1–C1998 are used for trains running through multiple railway bureaux, the designations C2001–C9998 for those running within one railway bureau. Some of these services serve the purpose of commuter trains to/from satellite cities surrounding major urban centres or from downtown to the airport, as at Lanzhou.
The classic rail network (Chinese:普速铁路; pinyin:Pǔsù tiělù), also known as conventional rail, forms the backbone of China’s railway system alongside the high-speed rail (HSR) network. These traditional railway lines operate at speeds below 160km/h (99mph) and serve a dual role in transporting both passengers and freight. Unlike the high-speed CRH services, which tracks are primarily dedicated and electrified, classic rail consists of older lines that may be single or double-tracked, with varying degrees of electrification.
Historically, the slower classic rail trains were in olive green livery, leading to the nickname "green train" (Chinese:绿皮火车; pinyin:Lǜpí huǒchē) to be used colloquially. Since 2014, most carriages that were in other colours (white, red, blue) have been repainted olive-green. Classic Rail trains are also sometimes referred to as "slow trains" in English.[2][3]
Classic rail trains have significantly lower ticket prices compared to CRH trains and are a popular choice with travellers on a budget.[3]
D ("Dongche", 动车; Electric Multiple Units)
The 'D' trains, currently operating on China's classic railway lines, unlike those running on high-speed rail, have an operational speed of 160 km/h rather than 200-250 km/h (the yet-to-be-procured CR220J will operate at 200 km/h). They feature passenger car interiors largely similar to high-speed trains, along with newly designed second-class sleeper interiors and first-class sleepers whose design is adapted from high-speed sleeper trains.
These D-series trains on classic railways are designed to replace the existing Z-series trains and may potentially replace the T-series trains in the future.
D-series trains on classic railways are operated by the CR200JFuxingelectric multiple units, which utilize a centralized power configuration.
Z ("Zhida", 直达; Non-Stop Express)
'Z' trains, despite their name (Chinese:直达; pinyin:Zhídá) technically implying a "non-stop" overnight train, sometimes stop several times before reaching their destination. The majority have both soft sleepers and hard sleepers, while some Z trains have only soft sleepers. The top speed is 160km/h. The designations Z1-Z9998 are distributed without regard to the number of railway bureaux entered. Z-series trains are typically served by the 25T train coaches.
This series was introduced with the fifth rise in speed of the railway on 18 April 2004. In the early years (2004–2006), all but one of the Z-series trains had either Beijing or Beijing West station as their destination or origin. As of 2009, Z-series trains also operated along the Yangtze Valley as well, providing overnight services from Wuhan to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Shenzhen.
An express train running between Harbin and Dalian
T ("Tekuai", 特快; Limited Express)
The T (Chinese:特; pinyin:Tè) series of trains have a limited number of stops along their routes, only in major cities, or in some instances stops for switching the driver or locomotive. The top speed is 140km/h. The designations T1–T4998 are used for trains running in multiple railway bureaux, while T5001–T9998 are used for trains running in only one railway bureau.
T-series trains are typically served by the 25K train coaches, which have a top speed of 140 km/h.
K ("Kuaisu", 快速; Express)
The K (Chinese:快; pinyin:Kuài) series of trains stop at more stations than T-series. Their top speed is 120km/h. The designations K1–K6998 are used for trains running in multiple railway bureaux, while K7001 to K9998 are used for trains running in only one railway bureau. K-series trains are typically served by the 25G train coaches.
After April 18, 2004, N-series trains, which represent fast trains travelling exclusively within one railway bureau, were derived from the K-series. Then, all K-series trains would travel on lines operated by more than one railway bureau. After 1 April 2009, the N-series was merged into the K-series again.
An air-conditioned General Fast Train from Chengdu to Ürümqi West
General Fast Train
General fast trains (普通旅客快车, which can be shortened to 普快, Pukuai) are slower passenger trains that stop at around half of the stations along the way, resulting in a longer travel time than the fast trains. The top speed is 120km/h. Route numbers are always four numeric digits—a numeric prefix from 1-5 followed by a 3-digit route number. Numbers 1001–1998 for the trains running through three or more railway bureaus, 2001–3998 for the trains running through two railway bureaus, and 4001–5998 for the trains that run in only one railway bureau.
General Train
The general train (普通旅客列车, which can be shortened to 普客, Puke) has as many stops as possible, and is often the preferred choice for rural workers to visit their home villages because of low ticket price. This is the slowest type of train and has the lowest priority in the Fixed Train Timetable (图定列车). The top speed is 100km/h. These trains are often the only available transportation in rural area lacking highway infrastructures, but is gradually being phased out in favour of faster trains.
Route identifiers for general trains are always 4 digits—a numeric prefix from 6-7 followed by a 3-digit route number. 6001–6198 are used for the trains that run in more than one railway bureau, while 7001–7598 will be used for the trains that run in only one railway bureau.
A Wuhan North-Wuchang South employee commuter train (No. 7613) makes a rare appearance in the arrival announcement board at Wuchang Railway Station. Although the service has been operating since 2010, the train - or either of its terminals - have never been listed in the reservation systems accessible to general public.
Commuter Train
The commuter train is usually runs for railway staff to commute or consult their doctor, but also takes their children to school and brings them back in some areas. Generally tickets for such a kind of train are not available for passengers. Route identifiers for commuter trains are 4 digits with a range of 7601–8998.[5]
Temporary Train
The "L" trains are temporary — 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 travel season. In addition, many new train services are originally added as L-series before train schedules are readjusted and later become regular services. L1–L6998 are used for the temporary trains that run in more than one railway bureau, while L7001–L9998 will be used for the trains that run in only one railway bureau. Recently the type was merged into other types for more kinds of temporary services (e.g. Temporary Limited Express).
Y ("Linshilüyou", 临时旅游; Temporary Tourist Train)
This series is used for trains that specifically run for tourism. Only very few trains begin with Y.[6] Besides, travel agencies can apply to the Railways Department for organizing additional passenger trains for the tours.
S ("Shijiao", 市郊; Suburban Commuter Rail)
This is a newer class developed to utilize idle tracks (mostly industrial or former industrial) to provide commuter travel to larger city centers from its suburban areas. Existing service until 2015 are S2 line from Yanqing County to Beijing, and Tianjin–Jixian Railway from Ji County to Tianjin. The Jinshan Railway from Jinshan County to Shanghai also fell in this category, but it is fully embedded in Shanghai Metro lines therefore tickets are not available on CR's website; while the other two offers more conventional service.
Limited express, within the administration (or corp.)
管内特快 guannei tekuai
301 – 998
Standard express with priority
快速旅客列车
kuaisu lüke lieche
Direct standard express with priority
直通 zhitong
K
1 – 998
66.5
Standard express with priority, within the administration (or corp.)
管内 guannei
N
1 – 998
Standard [passenger] train
普通旅客列车
putong lüke lieche
Standard express
普通旅客快车 putong lüke kuaiche
N/A
1001 – 5998
N/A
Standard stopping train
普通旅客慢车 putong lüke manche
6001 – 8998
Temporary train
临时旅客列车 linshi lüke lieche
L or A
1 – 998
Tourist train
旅游列车 lüyou lieche
Y
1 – 998
As the Rule of The Edit and Management of Train Timetable, a rule issued by Ministry of Railway, the arrangement of following passenger train classes was put into practice from April 1, 2009.
Trains at Yichang station. The orange two-level cars are hard-seat cars of a day train from Hankou
CRH train
Business Class Seat (Chinese:商务座; pinyin:shāngwù zuò), on a few services pending on train type, such as the CRH380AL or CRH380BL trains. 3 seats per row (2+1). Lie-flat seats with airline style catering provided. The newer Fuxing trains, such as the Fuxing CR400AF and the CR400BF trains. the CR400BF-Z has a newly updated interior, with new privacy centered business class seats, with a sliding door, and a 1+1 layout. The CR400AF-Z has a similarly updated Business Class seat, but without a sliding door. These are also in the updated 1+1 layout.
Premier Class Seat (Chinese:特等座; pinyin:tèděng zuò), can vary, pending on train type, from being similar to Business Class style seats or First Class seats located in premier or sightseeing positions such as behind the drivers cab. 3 seats per row (2+1) or compartment seats. Unlike Business Class seats, these seats are not lie-flat seats, but can in general recline. They are rare, with most trains having Business Class Steats.
First Class Seat (Chinese:一等座; pinyin:Yīděngzuò), used for CRH series EMU trains. There are 4 seats per row (2+2), just similar as soft seat. They offer more legroom and space than the second class seats.
Second Class Seat (Chinese:二等座; pinyin:èrděngzuò), used for CRH series EMU trains. Similar as hard seat, there are 5 seats per row (3+2), the sitting area is relatively small.
Soft sleeper, used for CRH series EMU trains. Found on only a few 'D' trains running overnight between Shanghai-Beijing or Beijing-Shenzhen. Similar as a soft sleeper on conventional trains but are limited to 4 berths to a compartment. Some upper berths can fold away to permit running purely as seated passengers.
Hard seat (Chinese:硬座; pinyin:Yìngzuò) is the basic fare, somewhat similar to the economy class on an airplane. On busier routes, passengers who cannot arrange for better seats because of overcrowding must also purchase this type of ticket. In some cases, tickets are sold with no seat assigned (无座, wú zuò), which allows the railway to sell more tickets than there are seats in the car. Still, even the number of "no seat" tickets offered for sale is limited, to keep overcrowding within limits.
Soft seat (Chinese:软座; pinyin:Ruǎnzuò) is one level above the Hard Seat. There are 4 seats per row (2+2), so it has comfortable seating similar to business class on airplanes.
Hard sleeper (Chinese:硬卧; pinyin:Yìngwò) is the basic accommodation for an overnight train. Despite the name, the bunks comfortably accommodate anyone below six feet. Bunks are arranged three on a side in a compartment—indicated by top, middle and bottom on the ticket. There are no doors for the compartments.
Soft sleeper (Chinese:软卧; pinyin:Ruǎnwò) contains a wider bunk bed in an enclosed cabin, two bunks to a side. There is more room for luggage storage than in hard sleeper. Occasionally there may be an entertainment system where movie channels are available for viewing through headphones and an LCD display for each bunk.
Luxury sleeper (Chinese:高级软卧包厢; pinyin:Gāojí Ruǎnwò or Chinese:高包; pinyin:Gāobāo) is the top level sleeper that is only provided by a few trains. The ticket is also much more expensive than that of soft sleeper. It only contains two beds in a cabin, and there is an independent toilet in every cabin. Some of them have a shower cubicle in the car.
Common to CRH and Classic Rail trains are standing tickets which do not include a seat and require the traveler to stand for the duration of the trip. This can lead to extreme overcrowding during busy travel seasons. Ticket holders are assigned to a carriage, typically only the hard seat or second-class seat carriage, and are not permitted to enter the soft seat or sleeper carriages. On high-speed trains, fewer standing tickets are available and limited to entry vestibules and café cars. Small folding seats are often sold in rail stations and from onboard vendors for standing ticket holders to sit in aisles.
Train fares may vary depending on the availability of air-conditioning.
Hard seat (non air-conditioned)
Hard seat (air-conditioned)
Soft seat
Soft sleeper
Soft sleeper compartment
Hard sleeper (semi-compartment)
Hard sleeper (open)
Deluxe sleeper
Blue Style Railway TicketPink Style Railway Ticket
The majority of train tickets in China are thermally printed paper tickets displaying the train's origin and destination, service number, price, date and travel time, accommodation type, class and seat number, as well as a barcode for security checks. Some tickets on the CRH routes such as Nanjing–Shanghai–Hangzhou or Guangzhou–Shenzhen use machine-readable tickets i.e. tickets on the Nanjing–Shanghai route have a magnetically encoded stripe for future use of automatic ticket inspection gates being implemented at major stations along the route, whilst tickets on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen line have embedded RFID microchips which can be read by proximity readers mounted above the ticket gates.
Most trains feature some kind of on-board catering service. Vendors with trolleys walk through the train selling snacks, drinks, fruit, newspapers etc. On shorter distance trains and many high-speed trains, there is a cafe-car selling light snacks, tea, coffee, beer etc. whilst conventional long-haul trains have full-service restaurant cars. At many stations along the route, vendors will sell fruit, prepared food and instant noodles on the platforms during the stops for Classic Rail trains. Hot-water is provided in almost every carriage for passengers to make tea or instant noodles.
Smoking is generally not permitted in the accommodation or washroom areas of the trains but is allowed in the restaurant/cafe area and in the vestibules between the cars. On modern trains such as CRH or Beijing Suburban railway smoking is completely banned, with some smoke detectors connected to the brakes to stop the train, causing errant smokers facing hefty fines and penalties. On the Guangzhou–Kowloon cross-border train smoking is only permitted in the cafe car.
E-tickets and Internet ticket purchase
A ticket of train 6461 in new layout, which was bought from the official ticketing website
Since July 12, 2011, the e-ticket system has been firstly adopted on Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway. Since December 23, 2011, all tickets can be bought at the official ticket website (12306.cn).
Since 2020, all China Railway tickets are electronic, and are sold either online at 12306.cn (or the Railway 12306 app) or offline at ticket machines or ticket counters using the internal Ticketing and Reservation System (TRS). Only the original ID document (or a temporary ID document issued by police) is valid for travel. A dynamic e-ticket QR code app in the Railway 12306 mobile app may also be used in conjunction with the ID document. Tickets are not transferrable.
Chinese Resident Identity cards are tapped on faregates before boarding and before exiting the station upon arrival. Some faregates may have an optical scanner for passports and a QR code scanner for the QR code in the Railway 12306 app. All identity documents can be used at the staffed gate located at one end of the gateline.
Changes and refunds
Changes to online bookings can be made any time before departure and on the same day after departure. A ticket can only be changed once. Refunds are generally only possible before the departure of the train.
Before 30 Jan 2020, intercity through train services are available between Kowloon (Hung Hom station) and Beijing West, Shanghai, and Guangzhou East. Passengers have to pass departure immigration at departure station and arrival immigration at arrival station, and boarding and alighting at intermediate stations are not allowed for cross-border passengers.
For Beijing/Shanghai to Kowloon routes, additional carriages are attached in the section between Beijing/Shanghai and Guangzhou East for domestic passengers, where boarding and alighting is allowed at intermediate stations. Tickets cannot be booked through the CR website.
The intercity Through Train services was suspended since 30 Jan 2020 due to the COVID19 pandemic. The Guangzhou-Kowloon route has replaced by G-series trains between Guangzhou East and West Kowloon, while the Beijing/Shanghai to Kowloon routes are officially replaced by the EMU sleeper trains which are departing from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station since 15 Jun 2024.[9]
Through High-speed services are available since 2018 between West Kowloon and Shenzhen, Guangzhou and other cities in mainland China like Shanghai, Xiamen, Guiyang and Beijing. Passengers have to pass immigrations in West Kowloon station, and those trains also serve as normal high-speed trains in mainland China. Sections operated by CR (from other stations in mainland China to Shenzhen Futian) and MTR (West Kowloon to Shenzhen Futian) have different pricing policies, making the cross-border section one of the most expensive in China. Tickets can be booked through the Internet.
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