Schedules and other information for Hong Kong to Shanghai:

http://www.it3.mtr.com.hk/B2C/UserPage/sysTimeTable_Eng.asp

See 'Hung Hom to Shanghai' near bottom of page and click other links for fares, etc.

As for Shanghai to Beijing, there are multiple overnight services, all of which have soft sleeper (four beds to a compartment) or higher class, the fastest of which (the D trains) take 10 hours 12 minutes, and leave at 2113, 2118, 2123, and 2128. You should book tickets when in Shanghai.

Peter N-H

See also: seat61.com/China.htm

...but use with caution. Much of the booking and timetabling information is inaccurate, place names wrong, links are frequently to unreliable sources (especially timetabling and booking from overseas, which is very ill-advised), the booking advice very poor, etc. Best for its photographs, and summaries of types of train.

Excuse me for intruding here.

What is the best online option for booking luxury soft sleeper on the direct Shanghai-HongKong train (running every other day, I believe) ?

Since we will arrive no more than 2-3 days in advance of preferred departure date, in March, 2010, I would like to book the tickets before arrival in China. I do not mind paying a small surcharge for the certainty of actually having the tickets confirmed or in hand.

There are many sites that seem to offer train ticket booking. Which is the most reliable? Another option might be to ask my hotel to book, but in my experience, the hotels want you to be in residence before booking tickets.

Many thanks..

ps. I understand that the schedule for March, 2010 will be published next month.

Unfortunately, the 'small surcharge' for booking on-line may be as much as 70%, so exercise caution.

You're better to try and work with a local agent (found through the hotel) that will simply charge ¥30 or so commission, or ¥5 per ticket if having a terminal on the railway system. Generally speaking, these tickets are treated the same as international ones and you need to present a passport at the time of booking, so you may find yourself asked for an image of that, in advance. The agent will not anyway be able to obtain the ticket until normal booking opens (but nor can the rapacious on-line agents).

The problem with hotels is that payment for tickets will usually be in cash, so they want you there to hand it over.

For March I wouldn't worry too much and would simply book on arrival. But China simply doesn't respond terribly well to detailed and inflexible itineraries.

Peter N-H

Thank you again, Peter. I understand the difficulty of attempting to plan so meticulously. Unfortunately, this is the way it must be for those of use who have non-refundable return tickets in hand!

The problem of the hotel wanting to hand over the payment in cash is one I faced the last time I took a train, but on that occasion, I had more time between arrival and train travel. I will contact the chosen hotel closer to the trip time and see what I can work out. Barring that, is there an online agency that you could recommend, or are they all equally rapacious?!

I should say here that the primary reason we are pursuing this itinerary is to be able to take the train to Hong Kong...my friend is a rabid train buff and I convinced him to visit China only by holding out the lure of the overnight luxury train ride!

If I can be presumptuous for a moment, would you mind alerting me/us if you happen to notice that the 2010 schedules for this train have been released? I will continue to check online, too.

Thanks ever so much for your help thus far.

eks - I'd be inclined to follow the suggestion of finding a local agent. Worst case you could use CITS, which I didn't find too pricey when I booked a couple of times in person but is likely the most expensive, but you might do better checking Lonely Planet for HK and Shanghai agents. Maybe cicerone would have a rec?

Approximately what is the duration for the fastest trains going from Hong Kong to Shanghai? Are they frequent?

> If I can be presumptuous for a moment, would you mind alerting me/us if you happen to notice that the 2010 schedules for this train have been released? I will continue to check online, too.

Just to note in passing that it's not merely a matter of when the schedules are released, but how many days in advance tickets may be purchased. This varies over time, and tends to be more flexible on the international (and 'international') routes, but is typically only a few days in advance. Agents taking your money earlier than that simply wait until booking opens.

But boarding this train in March really isn't likely to be much of a problem. The big rush for Chinese New Year will be long over and domestic leisure travel doesn't usually really get going until May. Business people prefer to fly from Shenzhen, and flying is often little more than taking the train, and a great deal quicker.

Peter N-H

Just to throw my two cents in here. We took the overnight z-train with the 2-berth deluxe sleeper. It turned out that it was more expensive that flying, almost double. I'm glad to have experienced it, even though it was filthy and smokey.

Just to note, 4-berth sleeper is shared with others if you do not purchase all 4 beds. Same with the 2-berth. Main bonus of 2-berth = private toilet!!! 4-berth has a public car toilet.

I used travelzen.com for air travel that happymom32 recommended for flying. No different that using expedia except I didn't get boarding passes to print before hand. Our seats were assigned at the airport and was no problem at all.

Peter is right. It is much quicker! (And, cleaner!!)

I'm surprised to read that you found the deluxe sleepers dirty. I haven't ridden deluxe class, but my last trip I found the east coast 4-berth soft sleepers very comfortable and certainly clean (further inland not so much).

BeachGirl247,

Are you talking Hong Kong-Shanghai or Shanghai-Beijing?

I was Xi'an to Beijing on Z-train T44.

thursdaysd, I can't say I'll ever do an overnight train again if air is available. The toilet seat was clean (had paper across it saying so) but the carpet and chair was disgusting.

I was talking principally Beijing to Shanghai, I think the Suzhou to Xi'an night train was using slightly older rolling stock, as were the trains further west.

I found the 2-berth luxury sleeper from Beijing to Shanghai to be clean enough. I had a private toilet area. I thought the overnight train was a highlight of my trip--if I had a quibble, it would be that I should ahve brought my own food and drinking glass/cup.

I just received an e-mail from one of the Chinese online rr sites informing me that the train I want will run on even dates in March, 2010. I am not looking to book my tickets right n ow, but I do need to know the dates on which the train runs in order to plan the rest of my itinerary. I am wondering if they just took a guess about the even/odd dates (50% chance of being right!) or if, in fact, there is some "official" confirmation of this. Once I know the days that the train will run, I can thinking about hotels in both Shanghai and Hong Kong.

so, is there someplace that I can confirm that the direct Shanghai-HK trains will run on even dates in March?

I realize that flying is probably much more efficient; one of my travel companions agreed to visit Shanghai only because he wants to then take the train to HK--this person has never been to Asia, let alone China, but is a train aficionado.

I hope to be able to book both berths in a two-berth compartment for myself. And my friends can share another 2-berth compartment. Hopefully, these trains offer two-berth compartments in luxury class!

ekscrunchy - No one can guarantee you right now the train will run on even days in March 2010. But if it doesn't, there's still a daily train to Shenzhen, and the T99 that doesn't go to Hong Kong will terminate at Guangzhou East, where you can connect to Hong Kong on one of the "through trains".

Thanks, Ray. I admit that I was a bit suspect to read in the e-mail from China Trip Advisors that the train was running on even dates, since from the info I received here from Peter NH and others, it seems as if the schedule has not yet been released and will not be available until next month..

We are going to plan our hotels around the direct train dates, because changing would probably mean doing so in the middle of the night. I am traveling with two older friends who might not take kindly to doing that. The entire issue is complicated by the fact that we will be arriving by air from Burma only a few days before the train trip.

Can you confirm for me whether or not the direct train, running every other day, will have two-berth compartments? (You did confirm on an earlier thread (see link below) but I am just checking to see if this remains the case)



http://www.fodors.com/community/asia/train-shanghai-to-hong-kong-2010-schedules-questions-again.cfm


I am very grateful for all of the help..

Yes, the direct Shanghai-Hong Kong train (and the Beijing one) definitely has the two-berth Deluxe Softsleeper, car type RW19T. Each cabin has upper and lower berth and private bathroom.

Thank you SO much. I will have to bide my time until the schedules are released!