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Which website to check train availability & cost

Which website to check train availability & cost

Old Jan 24th, 2016, 02:42 AM
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Which website to check train availability & cost

Hi guys!
Could you suggest websites which give real time info about availability and cost of Chinese trains?
My plan is to book at the stations, when I am in China (next month), though I try to know the real prices, so I make up my mind and have the info beforehand about which train to take, and then go to station or city ticket office to buy the actual ticket
Maybe occasionaly I'd by a ticket online if it is safe...
After searching I found these sites:

http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/
http://www.chinatripadvisor.com/train/
http://www.chinatraintickets.net/china-trains/

Do you recommend any of them, you had good experience, reliable info, real prices instead of web inflated?
Thanks in advance!!!!
Nikos
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Old Jan 24th, 2016, 07:39 AM
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See: seat61.com/China.htm
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Old Jan 24th, 2016, 09:53 AM
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There is no truly reliable and inexpensive way to buy Chinese rail tickets via an English-language site, and most should be given a very wide berth indeed. Overcharging can amount to as much as 70% of the ticket value.

www.12306.cn is the official railway site, but in Chinese only. You can look up train times on the sites you mention to get a general idea of schedules, but some have proved inaccurate or incomplete in the past. There are assorted English-language smartphone apps not offering booking services but merely information. These tend to come and go, and I haven't looked at the latest, but in the past those that have claimed to tap straight into the Chinese rail database seem to have worked, and one even gave remaining seat availability information.

Regardless, just book yourself when you're in the country, which doesn't require going anywhere near a station unless you want to. Rail prices (unless you go through a foreigner-targeting agency site) are universal, and based on distance, plus a series of supplements for seats and berths above the basic, for speed, for the provision of aircon (now almost universal), etc.

The best option when in China is one of the myriad agencies with terminals on the railway's system. On local maps the locations of these are often marked with a railway symbol, or your hotel's reception will certainly know the nearest. There's a fixed charge of ¥5 per ticket. All you need is the details of your destination written down in characters, the date you'd like to travel and the type of berth. Any guide book will give you descriptions of the options, and your hotel's reception will help you with writing down your needs. It may also offer to obtain tickets for you, but for a surcharge of perhaps ¥30 per ticket, and will simply just walk down the road to obtain them as you could for yourself.

At these agencies with the railway terminals you may buy tickets for trains departing from any station within the local railway bureau's area. You may also buy tickets for other trains in China, but *only* those whose routes begin at the station where you plan to board, and *not* those passing through. Allocations may be limited. Obviously this applies to return tickets when you'll be crossing to a different railway bureau on the outbound trip. A limited number of returns is available, but mostly you buy your return on arrival.

Note that you *must* show your passport whenever buying a ticket (and Chinese law requires you have it with you at all times anyway). You'll also need to give your passport to any hotel staff member going off elsewhere to do the purchase for you. Keep a photocopy. You must pay with cash in all circumstances, and in most cases cannot use automated ticket machines at railway stations but must go to a ticket window.
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Old Jan 24th, 2016, 09:55 AM
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Oh, and Seat 61 does its best (looking globally a magnificent effort), but is rarely up-to-date with Chinese trains, and has a history of recommending booking agencies with the most horrendous surcharges. Handy for pictures of train types and berths, etc. but don't relay wholeheartedly on what's written there.
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Old Jan 24th, 2016, 01:41 PM
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many thanks temppeternh , this was very insight information for me!
I'll keep these in mind, and will try to have internet access occasionaly while in China to update train info, before heading to ticket office
all the best!
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Old Jan 25th, 2016, 12:50 PM
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Please, allow me to come up with a new issue, the chinese new year!
So, I'm landing on Feb 20th at Guangzhou, and my plan was to travel up to Yunnan.
I have some second thoughts if it is too big an area, but supposing I go all the way, a first train ride could be straight Guangzhou- Kunmning, or with a stop somewhere, planning to start with the remote part first, and coming closer to Guangzhou by the end of the 3 week trip.
Can you tell if such a (rough) plan will be seriously affected by new year?
Would be possible to find tickets just 1-2 days in advance?
many thanks again for the very insight tips!!!
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Old Jan 25th, 2016, 04:31 PM
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I don't get the discussion about Seat61. They do not have schedules nor do they give ticket availability.
You need to visit the website of a ticket agent unless you can read Chinese. They all have real-time schedules and ticket availability and are linked to 12306.cn, the official website.
Based on the ticket availability that you see on such and checking various dates to see trends or how popular a certain train is, then you can decide if you book ahead with an agent or take a chance. There is no universal answer.
W
I do not think that seat61 recommends agencies with particularly horrendous charges. Gone are the days of commissions of %25 to $40. Most are charging $10 plus or minus $2. When you are spending $5000 for a trip for a couple, paying a small commission to a ticket agent to ensure a smooth trip is a small price to pay. But I can see that some people are on a tight budget. If you do not book ahead then have a B plan which B plan may mean flying.
Looking at Guangzhou-Kunming for February 20th, I see that it is nearly sold out. Waiting does not sound like a great strategy.
Have a nice trip!
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Old Jan 25th, 2016, 09:47 PM
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> Can you tell if such a (rough) plan will be seriously affected by new year?

Well, you're arriving a week after the main holiday, so you'll miss the worst of it. But the total effect is over a roughly 60-day period, so you can expect to find tickets perhaps a little harder to obtain, but not impossible (as they would be at either end of the main holiday). Independent travel gives you the flexibility on route and pace of travel, and so you shouldn't have too great a problem at that time, unless you produce some plan that's managed down to the smallest detail. There are many trains on most routes, foreigner-targeting on-line agencies in addition to overcharging rarely show more than a small portion of the timetable. Arrive in Guangzhou, turn your attention straight away to booking a train out (at an over-the-counter agent for ¥5), have a couple of days in Guangzhou (not the most appealing of Chinese cities, but with a reasonable amount to see) and then set off. Remember there are plenty of buses that will take you to 'remote' areas quite close to Guangzhou, and plenty of places in Yunnan are not 'remote'. Personally if it's non-stop to Kunming then I'd fly to save the time.

Start by asking an air ticket agency before you leave the airport, and then see if you can beat the quoted price at another agency in town (usually not one in your hotel). The timetables are bi-lingual, the prices are dealt with by showing you a calculator. Whatever the first price look disappointed and mime that you'd like something cheaper.

But best would be perhaps to follow the route originally suggested (or similar, depending on what you found that interested you) outbound from Guangzhou, and which begins with hops by bus. Get as far as you can, and turn back when you feel time's running out.
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Old Jan 26th, 2016, 11:16 AM
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"...foreigner-targeting on-line agencies in addition to overcharging rarely show more than a small portion of the timetable. ..." most, if not all, show the whole schedule and real-time information as they are plugged on the official website (12306). Not sure that I'd call $5 to $10 overcharging.
The Guangzhou area has a ton of factories and many workers coming from the countryside. So in the days leading to Chinese new year, you have a lot of outbound traffic. After Chinese new year, the is a lot of in-bound traffic. So, trying to get out of Guangzhou after you arrive should not be so bad.
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Old Jan 26th, 2016, 11:25 AM
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now I tend to worry with the new year traffic!
A LOT!!!
But ok, that is included in the purpose of these threads!
it's great that I now know all these facts and see how could make things work best, under the circumstances..
Thanks again for the insight tips, I need to start serious thinking at this point, connect all these dots you gave me...
All the best !!
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Old Jan 28th, 2016, 12:29 PM
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> now I tend to worry with the new year traffic!

For what you want to do and when you want to do it, and given that you're a flexible independent traveller, you shouldn't. If you're pottering along the south coast in a Yunnan-ish direction a week after the main holiday you should have little problem. Spring Festival travel problems are mainly about migrant workers in major manufacturing centres travelling to their ancestral villages and back.

Supposing you wanted to take a train from Guangzhou to Haikou, on the suggested route, a hard sleeper for that 12-hour journey would be about $41. You might consider $10 on top (and commissions can be higher than that) a little excessive, especially when your charge once in China varies from absolutely nothing to 75¢. On shorter train-rides the overcharging becomes still more glaring. But it's up to you.

There really isn't any serious thinking needed, and isn't that the pleasure of independent travel? You arrive, you see what's doable, and you set off. If you decide Yunnan is your priority you make straight there an then amble back, with the public holiday receding ever further into the past. Otherwise you amble off west in little hops, going at whatever speed you find pleases you according to the pleasure you take in where you find yourself. You might find the places already suggested absolutely charmless, or you might revel in not seeing any foreigners at all for days, and regard everything on the street as a curiosity. Micro-planning only leads to broken plans in China and takes the pleasure and financial benefits of flexibility away. Just relax.
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Old Jan 28th, 2016, 10:21 PM
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This is the ultimate china rail website, in english at least. cnvol.com

commercial sites, tripadvise, etc bring half the info, but usually not all of it.
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Old Jan 29th, 2016, 05:19 AM
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I have to disagree with the above. Cnvol's schedules have been out of date 98% of the time. This guy does it as a hobby and only looks after his site when he has time. He used to download the schedules "once in a while" from the official website. Just about every site of ticket agents is real time. You don't need to buy from them but if you can't read Chinese and can't use 12306.cn, then these are your best solution.
I see that he now claims to have real-time schedules. Time will tell but I just check the trains for some newly added routes and he doesn't show them.
In any case, it is definitely incorrect to say that commercial sites only show half of the information. Think about it, this is their living, not a hobby, so why would they shortchange themselves?
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Old Jan 30th, 2016, 12:51 PM
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I just did an interesting exercise. In the last month, 2 important train stations opened. One is Futian (next to the Hong Kong border) and Yangshuo.
I searched for trains Yangshuo-Nanning and Guangzhou-Futian for sometimes in February.
Only http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/ and http://www.china-diy-travel.com are showing full schedules for these new train routes.
But these routes or stations do not exists on the other mentioned by the op nor do they show up with cnvol.com or ctrip.com
I guess everybody will catch up eventually but when there are major changes like this, it is a good time to check who stays up to date.
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Old Feb 8th, 2016, 05:32 AM
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So many thanks for the great info guys!!
I was offline for a few days, sorry to be late !!!
CanadaChinaTraveller so many thanks for your technical tips, it's really important for an inexperienced-about-China traveler to get it right, and not discover the unpleasant inconsistencies when having the bag on the shoulders...
I'll check thoroughly the http://www.chinahighlights.com/china-trains/ and http://www.china-diy-travel.com websites, it was a great experiment you did, very enlightening!

temppeternh many thanks for the encouragement! As you say, being independent gives / means some freedom with plans, and I understand that expecting too much precision can be frustrating
Relax is not my exact advantage but yes, I should do just that!
thanks again for your support, I wish great trips to come!!
all the best!!
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Old Feb 15th, 2016, 12:18 AM
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Just booked FEB rail trips, kashgar-Korla, @y393.50; Korla-Lanzhou, @y686, thru Ctrip, which collected a y30/$US5 each, booking fee. Perhaps Ctrip is one of those English speaking visitor-oriented sites mentioned by CanadianChinaTraveller; so be it...the convenience of online booking, in English, was worth the relatively low fees.

I've found Ctrip ALWAYS underprices the Kayaks, Orbitz, Expedias, even ITA, of our Western online travel world when it comes to air travel. Usually at least 1/2 or better below quotes of Western sites.
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Old Feb 15th, 2016, 12:24 AM
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FYI, prices quoted previous msg: Soft Sleeper, only hard seat alternatives on few remaining ok dates for my FEB travel. AND, cost of required paper copy ticket p/u @ train station was a y5 fee (about 85-90 US cents) each.
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