Train Travel In China

Taking a train to get around in China is quite convenient and a little adventurous. In larger cities there are many ticket offices around town. Or, you can purchase the tickets at the station. The train station, while overwhelming due to the massive numbers of people, is actually quite easy to navigate. Usually at least minimal English is spoken and all signs are in English. It is also a great place to observe people. You will see that the local people do not queue in polite lines, as we tend to do. If you want to get through, do as the locals do. Reminder bathrooms in the train station are probably the most disgusting I have seen anywhere.

Instead of first- or second-class tickets they are referred to as soft or hard seats. Generally soft seats (the first class ticket) are nicer, more comfortable and the cars have air conditioning. I say generally because there is a disparate difference between Eastern China and Western China’s standards. A soft seat out of Shanghai or Beijing will be as described above and the train most likely will have a food car. My experience taking a 4-hour soft seat from western Chengdu to ChongQing was startlingly different. To our horror our train with cramped seats facing each other did not have a food car, did not have air conditioning, and did not have spacious comfortable seats. It also had cockroaches. The student sitting next to me was surprised at my discomfort. To him (someone living in the less populous, vast west) a four-hour train was short and therefore didn’t warrant any of the niceties we were expecting.

Overnight trains can also be very economical and practical. There is an overnight speed train that leaves Shanghai in the evening around 7pm and arrives in downtown Beijing at 7am. This can often be more convenient than taking a plane. The difference between a soft sleeper seat and hard sleeper seat is space and privacy. In a soft sleeper the compartments contain four beds. In a hard sleeper there are six beds. A soft sleeper will have a compartment door you can close for privacy. The hard sleepers do not have doors. Even when traveling as just two or three people we prefer to purchase all of the seats in one soft sleeper compartment. This ensures that we are not sharing the small compartment with a smoker, spitter or generally offensive person. Also note that on an overnight train, in the morning the bathrooms can be “challenging” for the feint of heart.