Shanghai to Beijing overnight D train photos and Q&A

Three days before the official beginning of the Spring Festival holiday, I decided to join in the mass migration of the Chinese people from their work places back to their home town.  I had been working in Shanghai the previous 2 weeks and needed to get to Beijing for a few meetings and my outbound flight to my home “village” of Los Altos, California.

A picture I posted on Facebook prompted an email between me and my friend Christina.  I thought I’d share some more photos and some FAQ for foreigners thinking about taking this train.

Photos

I arrived on a rainy evening of Tue February 9 at the Shanghai Rail Station.  The taxi deposited me underground and I walked out.  The large plaza in front of the station was mobbed with people.  There were large tents outside the station with what I thought were destination names blocking the front entrance of the station.  As I approached the front entrance, I saw makeshift barriers set up to accomodate long queues as if we were entering.

My ticket was purchased in person a week earlier by a former colleague of mine here in Shanghai.  She had to show her ID to purchase the ticket but the ticket was not bound to her name and ID number.  Entering the station, I showed then entrance guard the ticket and then I then found my way to my train, the D306 departing 9:15 pm.

I then went through something that was like an airport security line.  It seemed less stringent than Chinese domestic airport security or International security.  I don’t recall being wanded nor do I recall taking my laptop out of my backpack.

After securuty, you go up the escalators.  I kept looking for information on where my train numbered D306 was departing, and found it on numerous large signs in the terminal.

Once upstairs, I walked down the hallway looking for the right gate number.

I then located the right gate here with the train number prominently displayed.  Underneath the sign, you see some kind of turnstyle but I think these were not operational and I just showed my ticket to some bored attendant who waved me in.

Seated in the large waiting area with hundreds of people, I waited until our train was called.  A large herd of people started to move toward the designated door and I did the same.  We then walked through the door and down the stairs.  There was an escalator but it wasn’t working.

I was in Train Car 4, Berth 24.  Yes, I know, lots of unlucky numbers. I found my way to Train Car 4 and entered the car.  This is the hallway outside the sleeping compartments that hold 4 people each.

There is a sign outside the sleeping compartment.  The large number itself doesn’t correspond to anything on your ticket.  The small numbers correspond to your berth number and show you which bunk you are in (upper, lower, left or right).

There are toilets in each car.  As far as I could tell, there were both Western toilets and Chinese toilets available.  I found them to be very clean to begin with and stayed surprisingly clean throughout the trip.  In fact, I thought the lavatory was usually cleaner than the ones on the United and Air China transpacific flights I take to get to China.

Whew, a Western toilet.

There is also a common washroom area that is toward the end of the sleeping car.  There is also a hot water dispenser there for you to refill the hot water container that is provided.

Here is the compartment. I wish I could have taken more photos of  but by the time I arrived my fellow compartment-mates were already there.  I ended up sharing with a young Shanghainese family with a 3 year old girl who had the 2 lower bunks, and 1 other businessman who had the other upper bunk.

I woke up and couldn’t sleep so I took some more pictures of the train.  I attribute the lack of sleep to jetlag more than the noise of the train.  The disadvantage of taking the train vs. flying to Beijing and staying in a hotel is that if you wake up in the middle of the night, there is no Wifi!

Dining car.  Even right after I boarded the train at 9:15,  I found that the car was pretty empty.  However, I did see people bring their own ramen noodles in styrofoam cups and prepare them inside their own compartments using the provided hot water thermos.

You can also save money by not purchasing a sleeping berth and going soft sleeper.  My guess is that some of these people would have wanted a sleeper but none were available.  Others are just saving money.

Some Questions and Answers (FAQ)

Christina asked me some questions so I just add them below in case you have similar questions.

Q:  What was it like to purchase tickets? Did you go through an agent, or just buy them last minute at the train station?

Around Spring Festival, the government tries to crack down on scalpers and brokers.  They required my Shanghai staff to go to train station to buy the tickets in person, showing an ID.  The tickets do not have a name on them so she could purchase it for me and I could travel on the ticket.  It is a physical ticket with a barcode on it, NOT an e-ticket.  Things might get a bit more lax after Spring Festival.  I would definitely NOT buy it last minute at the station.

I have also run into this site China Trip Advisor:  They have some train information. I have no idea if it is accurate or how good this travel agency is.  Here’s some info I cut and pasted from the site:

Bullet Night Sleeper Train From Beijing to Shanghai (source: ChinaTripAdvisor)

Bullet Night Sleeper Train from Shanghai to Beijing (source: ChinaTripAdvisor)

I paid RMB655 for a top bunk and I think the lower bunk was more expensive but not available, at I think RMB700 or RMB720 or so.  So it looks like this agency is taking about a $28/ticket commission or so.

I took the D306 from SH to BJ and the times listed by this site is correct. As I mentioned, it is 4 to a compartment with 2 upper and 2 lower bunks.  Very new train.  Very comfortable.

Also I think the ChinaTripAdvisor site is outdated about the trains arriving at Beijing Railway Station.  The 306 I took arrived at the NEW Beijing South Railway Station.

Q:  Are you on business or traveling with kids? If with kids, is it hard to keep the compartment to yourself, or do you have random people wanting to stay in there with you? When you buy tickets, are the beds/compartments assigned to your ticket?

I was traveling on business.  I shared with a family of 3 (who shared the 2 lower bunks) and 1 businessman (who slept in the other upper bunk).  There is a sliding door that closes the compartment from the hallway, and is pretty thick and reduces the hallway noise.  Once that door is closed no one else will likely come into your compartment.  If you book 4 bunks in 1 compartment, you will have plenty of privacy for the whole family.

The tickets have an assigned car and assigned bunk number.  When you buy the ticket, you just have to buy the 4 bunks that are all in the same compartment.

Q: Do you have any advice on how to travel by overnight train? Do you rest well? No one seems to be able to tell me much about it – the travel agent we’re working with is unfamiliar, and my dad has not had many good or recent experiences with China train travel.

The D306 train I took was very new and very clean.  Some things I saw others do and other things I observed:

1. bring a small water bottle or thermos for tea.  There is potable hot water dispenser for free in each car.
2. bring ramen noodles in styrofoam cup.  People would make ramen noodles in their compartment.
3. I personally didn’t want to make noodles, so I brought 2 bottles of bottled water.  I used that to brush my teeth because the water from the sink faucets are not potable.
4. Try to travel with suitcases that are not way too big.  I have a medium size Kirkland suitcase that is too big to carry-on a plane, but was small enough to fit underneath the beds where the storage is.
5. There must be some kind of  “checked luggage” but I wasn’t clear how to do it. – What I did was wheel my bag from the waiting room at the train station to the train itself.  Often there are no elevators that are easily accessible and no down escalators (i was traveling Shanghai to Beijing, not sure about Beijing back to Shanghai as the new Beijing South Station is very modern and new).  Be prepared to carry bags down a few flights of stairs.
6. It would be nice to have my own slippers as well.

Seat61 has a really useful page on the train routes.  Be sure to check it out.

Some other information on the configuration of the Shanghai Beijing overnight train based on my trip on D306:

The D306 CRH Train has:

• Total of about 16 passenger cars
• The first car and last are non-sleeper, soft seating cars that hold about 64 people (about 12 rows, 5 across, plus another 4 or so seats)
• One car is the dining car, on our train it was Car 9
• 13 are sleeping cars
• Each sleeping car has about 10 compartments with 4 bunks each, for about 40 people per car.
• Car 10 has a lounge and only 8 compartments, or about 32 people in this car.
• Based on this estimate, there are 512 people on each D class sleeper train.

Any questions about traveling from Shanghai to Beijing by train?