7 New High Speed Train Services Opened in China – December 2013

Seven (7) new high speed rail services were opened by China Railway Corp on December 28, 2013, greatly cutting travel time for long distance train routes. Increasing access to places like Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, and Xi’an much faster than before.

• You can travel from Shanghai to Shenzhen in less than 12 hours by high speed rails!

  Previously, you have to spend over 18 hours if traveling by train.

  Travel from Shanghai to Harbin by high-speed train saves you as much as 20 hours now! (cut from 32 to 13 hours)

  Travel time from Beijing to Guilin, a picturesque city in Southern China’s Guangxi province, has been shortened from about 26 hours to 10.5 hours.

  24 trains will run on the six lines in the early stage. The seven newly opened routes are as follows:

1. Xi’an – Baoji 167 km. (104 mi.)
2. Xiamen – Shenzhen 514 km. (319 mi.)
3. Chongqin – Lichuan 287 km. (178 mi.)
4. Hengyang – Liuzhou 223 km. (139 mi.)
5. Qinzhou-Fangchenggang 498 km. (309 mi.)
6. Liuzhou – Nanning 197 km. (122 mi.)
7. Nanning – Beihai 51 km. (32 mi.)

The average speed of China’s high speed rail is around 200 kph (125 mph) due to China’s tricky topography. Shaanxi province’s Xi’an-Baoji line are faster – it alone runs at 250 kph (155 mph).

Ticket prices of high speed rails in China vary greatly, for example, a business-class seat from Guilin to Beijing is 2,530 RMB (415 USD), a first-class seat 1,250 RMB (207 USD) and a second-class seat 806 RMB (133 USD).

While ticket prices of some long distance rail lines are as expensive as flights, shorter routes cost you from 30 RMB (5 USD) to 150 RMB (25 USD).

You can buy tickets of high speed train online, but the site is only available in Chinese and is often overloaded from the traffic.

As a licensed travel agency the privates Tours in China, WindhorseTour advises, you buy tickets from us or other licensed travel agencies or as part of your total travel package.

The high-speed rail along the coastlines serves to connect China’s major economic hubs as well as boosting China’s tourism. Traveling by train in China is a great experience as it allows you to appreciate much of China’s intoxicating yet less known parts.

Please note that 4 of the 7 new lines are in Guangxi – the only region in China linked to Southeast Asia by land, sea and air. Guilin and Yangshuo are 2 renowned travel destinations in this province. 

8 major lines have set China’s high-speed railway network. The long high speed railway lines in China accounts for half of the global total – an impressive 10,000 km. (6,213 mi.)