Riding China’s Bullet Train

We travelled from Beijing to Xian on China’s high-speed rail service, a thoroughly relaxing experience once we found the right train.

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Which train is ours?

But first you have to find the right railway station – there are seven of them in Beijing! It turned out that all bullet trains depart from Beijing West station, where we arrived early as these trains are unfailingly punctual.

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The journey to Xian takes around four-and-a-half hours to cover the 1,125-kilometre distance. There are 18 trains a day on this route and ticket prices range from US$85 to US$257. It was an extremely comfortable ride with no sense of the 300 km/hour speed at which the train travels.

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China’s high-speed rail service began operation in 2008 and its network is expected to reach over 38,000 kilometres by 2025 and 45,000 kilometres in the longer term, claimed to be more rail lines than in the rest of the world combined.

In my next Picture of the Day I’ll reveal what we saw in Xian.

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1 year ago

Wow…what an adventure! I enjoyed your post.

1 year ago

Envious.  European trains ran at 200kph (120mph) when I was there and it was totally smooth gliding.  They run at nearly 300kph now and you feel no vibrations while AMTRAK non-ACELA trains run at a bumpy, rocking ride in the USA at a paltry 70mph.

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