This article is about passenger transportation in Mainland China. If you wish to know about passenger transportation in Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan, please see related articles. The highlighted area in the map is what is commonly known as mainland China. Mainland China (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: is a geopolitical term which is usually synonymous with the area currently administered by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC); however, it excludes the two special administrative regions...

An electronic display board at Shanghai south railway station with a list of departures

Rail is one of the principal means of transport in Mainland China, with over 1.2 billion railway trips taken each year. The Spring Festival Travel Season is the peak railway travel season of the year. In 2006, more than 144 million people traveled by rail during this 40 day festival period. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 789 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1627 × 1237 pixel, file size: 6. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 789 × 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (1627 × 1237 pixel, file size: 6. ... Shanghai South Railway Station (上海南站) is a railway and metro station in the city of Shanghai. ... Chunyun (Traditional Chinese: 春運, Simplified Chinese: 春运, literally Spring Transportation) refers to the high traffic load of transportation in Mainland China around the Chinese New Year. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Passenger Train Route Identifiers

Every train route has an identification number of two to four characters. The first character can be alphabetic or numeric, while the second to fourth characters are all numeric. If a train route changes from up service to down service while traveling in a certain direction it may use two different route numbers for that route (see below for the definition of up versus down).

First Character

The first character of the route identifier usually indicate the class of the passenger train, often determined by the speed and the relative number of stops the train makes along the way. There are five alphabetic prefixes.

D(EMU Train)

This series will be available after the sixth rise in speed of the railway in 2006. All will have soft beds or seats. The top speed will be 200km/h. These trains will be powered using electric multiple units (EMUs). A multiple unit is a passenger train whose carriages have their own motors, either diesel (DMUs) or electric (EMUs), and do not need to be hauled by a locomotive. ...

Z (Direct Express)

Though its name in Chinese (直达 Zhida, hence the Z Prefix) technically implies a "non-stop" train, some of these trains have several stops between the two stations. The majority have only soft sleepers, while very few have hard sleepers. As of August, 2006, all but one of the Z-series trains have either Beijing or Beijing West station as their destination or origin. The Honda Z-Series refers to the lineage of mini bikes manufactured by Honda Motorcycles. ...

T (Express)

This 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 standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Te"(特) in Chinese, which most people spell as "T" in English.

K (Fast)

This series of trains stop at more stations than T-series, and normally have a slower travel speed than the T-series in the same corridor. The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Kuai"(快) in Chinese, which most people spell as "K" in English.

All K-series trains travel on lines operated by more than one railway bureau.

N (Fast Train within One Railway Bureau)

Similar to a K train, but this series of trains travel exclusively within one railway bureau. The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Nei"(内) in Chinese, which most people spell as "N" in English.

1-5 General Fast Train

General fast trains (普通旅客快车, 普快 Pukuai for short) 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. Route numbers are always four numeric digits - a numeric prefix from 1-5 followed by a 3-digit route number.

6-9 General Train

The general train (普通旅客列车), often simply referred to as Manche (slow train) has as many stops as possible, and is often the preferred choice for rural workers to visit their home villages. This is the slowest type of train and has the lowest priority in the Fixed Train Timetable (图定列车)

Route identifiersfor general trains are always 4 digits - a numeric prefix from 6-9 followed by a 3-digit route number.

L (Temporary Train)

This series of 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 period. In addition, many new train services are originally added as L-series before train schedules are readjusted and later become regular services. In number theory, Dirichlet characters are certain arithmetic functions that capture some important properties of the cyclic group. ...

The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "Lin"(临) in Chinese, which most people spell as "L" in English.

A (Train meet need)

This series is similar to the L-series, but is used when a number is taken by a regular train.

The standard pronunciation on the railway system is "An"(按) in Chinese, which most people spell as "A" in English.

S (Surburb Train)

Used for commuter traffic. They generally have a short route - for example, S801, from Meilong in Shanghai to Jiashan in Zhejiang, has a route of only 59km. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Jiashan County, the land of milk and honey is closer to Shanghai than its Zhejiang Province capital Hangzhou. ... Zhejiang (also spelled Chehkiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Numeric Portion (Digits 2-4)

• Trains are classified as up trains or down trains. Since Beijing is seen as the center of the network, the train from Beijing is the down service, while the train towards Beijing is the up service.
• If the railway on which the train is travelling goes to Beijing, but the train does not itself pass Beijing then trains are still described as up or down using the rule outlined above. The train which travels from Shanghai to Nanjing West on the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway) is one example where this rule would apply.
• If the railway does not connect to Beijing (e.g. the Longhai Railway), the train to south and to east is up, while to north, to west is down.
• Down trains use odd numbers, while up trains use even numbers. For example, the T103 travels from Beijing to Shanghai, and the N522 travels from Hangzhou to Meilong
• If a train changes during a journey from being an up train to a down train, or vice versa, it uses a double train number. For example, the Shanghai to Harbin train is the K56/57() - it uses K56 before Tangshan, and uses K57 after Tangshan. The Shanghai to Chengdu is the K290/291 - it uses K290 before Xuzhou (towards Beijing on the Beijing-Shanghai Railway), and uses K291 after Xuzhou(east to west on the Longhai Railway and north to south on the Baoji-Chengdu Railway).

  (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...   (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...   (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...   (Chinese: 南京; Romanizations: NánjÄ«ng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling)) is the capital of Chinas Jiangsu Province and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. ...   (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...   (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Postal map spelling: Hangchow) is a sub-provincial city in the Peoples Republic of China and the capital of Zhejiang province. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Harbin on a map of China For other meanings of Harbin, see Harbin (disambiguation). ... Tangshan (Chinese: 唐山市; Pinyin: Tángshān shì) is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Tangshan (Chinese: 唐山市; Pinyin: Tángshān shì) is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, Peoples Republic of China. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Cheng-tu), located in southwest China, is the capital of the Sichuan province and a sub-provincial city. ... Xuzhou (Chinese: 徐州; Hanyu Pinyin: ), known as Pengcheng (Chinese: 彭城; Hanyu Pinyin: ) in ancient times, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Jiangsu province, Peoples Republic of China. ...   (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... The Primary stops on the Jinghu Railway for passenger rail The Jinghu railway is a train line running between Beijing and Shanghai in China through Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui Jiangsu. ... Xuzhou (Chinese: 徐州; Hanyu Pinyin: ), known as Pengcheng (Chinese: 彭城; Hanyu Pinyin: ) in ancient times, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Jiangsu province, Peoples Republic of China. ...

Accommodation and Fares

There are four types of tickets that may be purchased

• Hard seat (硬座 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.
• Soft seat (软座 Ruǎnzuò) is one level above the Hard Seat, and has comfortable seating similar to business class on airplanes.
• Hard sleeper (硬卧 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 up, middle and bottom on the ticket.
• Soft sleeper (软卧 Ruǎnwò) contains a larger bunk bed in an enclosed cabin, two bunks to a side. These tickets are usually reserved more than a week prior to departure.
• A few trains will have a kind of accommodation more expensive than a soft bed, named "Advanced Cab"(高级软卧包厢 or 高包)

The fares are different between trains with or without air-conditioning. Hard seat coach of train T27 The Hard seat (Chinese: ; pinyin: yìng zuò), short for YZ, is the lowest class of seating in China Railway. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Combined Transport

Combined transportation trains allow passengers to remain on a single train during two routes, without transferring to a different train at the station where the route changes.

Guangzhou-Kowloon

No. T97/98 (Beijing-Kowloon) and No. K99/100 (Shanghai-Kowloon) are combined transportation trains. Passengers can complete all formalities in their departure station, and no longer need to alight at Dongguan. Guangzhou is the capital and the sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... In modern day Hong Kong, Kowloon refers to the urban area made up of Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon, bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutters Island in the west, Tates Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and...   (Chinese:  ; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... In modern day Hong Kong, Kowloon refers to the urban area made up of Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon, bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutters Island in the west, Tates Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... In modern day Hong Kong, Kowloon refers to the urban area made up of Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon, bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutters Island in the west, Tates Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and... Dongguan (Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, Peoples Republic of China. ...

International Combined Transportation

A few trains can transport passengers out of China to places such as Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, Moscow in Russia, Almaty in Kazakhstan, P'yŏngyang in D.P.R.Korea, Hanoi in Vietnam and so on. September 2004 Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaatar (Улаанбаатар, [UlaÉ£an BaÉ£atar]) in Mongolian, is the capital of Mongolia. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2007)    - Density 10,469,000   9684. ... Map showing Almatys location in Kazakhstan Almaty Orthodox church Mosque Almaty (Алматы; formerly known as Alma-Ata, also Vernyj, Vyernyi (Верный) in Imperial Russia) is the largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of 1,185,900 (2004) (8% of the population of Kazakhstan) citizens. ... Not to be confused with PyeongChang. ... North Korea, officially the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK; Korean: Chosŏn Minjujuŭi Inmin Konghwaguk; Hangul: 조선민주주의인민공화국; Hanja: 朝鮮民主主義人民共和國), is a country in eastern Asia... Hanoi (Vietnamese: Hà Ná»™i, Hán Tá»±: 河内)  , estimated population 3,145,300(2005), is the capital of Vietnam. ...

Since Chinese railways and those of its neighbours sometimes have different gauges of rail track passengers in some trains may need to alight at a border city and wait for a train of a different gauge to continue their journey. Gauge (sometimes spelled gage) vb. ...

Railway Management

There are three levels of management in the railway system of Mainland China

• Ministry of Railways
• Railway Bureaus or Railway Group Companies
• Railway Stations

There are sixteen Railway Bureaus and two Railway Group Companies under the Minister of Railways.

• Beijing Railway Bureau
• Chengdu Railway Bureau
• Gangzhou Railway Group Co.,Ltd.
• Harbin Railway Bureau
• Hohhot Railway Bureau
• Jinan Railway Bureau
• Kunming Railway Bureau
• Lanzhou Railway Bureau
• Liuzhou Railway Bureau
• Nanchang Railway Bureau
• Qinghai-Tibet Railway Group Co., Ltd.
• Shanghai Railway Bureau
• Shenyang Railway Bureau
• Taiyuan Railway Bureau
• Wulumuqi (Ürümqi) Railway Bureau
• Wuhan Railway Bureau
• Xi'an Railway Bureau
• Zhengzhou Railway Bureau

External links

• Passenger train information online
• Checking Train Schedules Online