2009 April « yendys-nodnol

Archive for April, 2009

Shanghai West

At this point I need to decide, Lhasa & India or Khazakstan & Iraq.

Sub-continents win!

Going west I could either…

Take soft sleepers as far as I can, spending the day in the cities along the way
Sit and Sleep on the non-stop to Lhasa (48 hours or 4300km) on T164/165

I looked in to taking a more unusual trip via Chengdu in the South West, however I cannot find any public buses that run in or out of the Tibet region. Although maybe they do?

Next stop Hangzhou

Add comment April 27, 2009

Shanghai

As big a Beijing. Home to alot of transport operations.

Only commercial maglev operation in the world, runs at around 400km/h+ between the city and the airport.
9 metro lines, 13 by 2012
2 main railway termini
Very large bus network, maybe the largest in the world
1 tram, or guided vehicle the Translohr
Dozens of ferries

2 days, 3 days?

Some tips about train travel

Avoiding ticket queues…

Gates to the platform open 30 minutes before the train departs, and closes 5 minutes in advance.So get there early.
You can get on the platform with a platform ticket.
What some people do is to buy a platform ticket (about 20c), then approach the conductor on board to buy a train ticket for full price.

Getting a sleeper

buy a standing or hard seat ticket in advance
two days before the train is due to depart (or whatever the cancellation period shown on the ticket is) go back to the ticket office and check for returned sleeper tickets – buy the sleeper ticket and get a refund on your standing / hard seat ticket
if you are still stuck with a standing / hard seat ticket on the day of your train do not worry! Once on the platform, head for the dining car. Tell the attendant that you want to ‘bu piao’ = make up the ticket to a better one i.e. a sleeper. In my limited experience, they will either do it there and then or wait until the train has left and they can see which births are still empty.
Use the above at your own risk!!!

Shanghai Metro

The focal point is the cross between lines 1,2 & 8 at Peoples Square. Up to 45,000 people per hour. Lines 1 & 2 are the busiest, about 1 million a day!

See

Local blog about shanghai with useful comments
Shanghaiology just interesting
Shanghai Metro Blog
Wikitraverl on Shanghai
ExploreShanghai Metro and Wiki

Add comment April 27, 2009

China Train Types

Found a neat summary of Chinese trip identifiers…

Train types			Trips
CRH			D1~D999
Intercity Highspeed Train			C1~C999
Direct Express Trtain		Non-Stop	Z1~Z999
Express Passenger Train		Direct	T1 ~ T298
Express Passenger Train		Stopping	T301 ~ T998
Fast passenger train		Direct	K1 ~ K398
Fast passenger train		Stopping	K401 ~ K998
Ordinary passenger train	Ordinary passenger express train	Stops in more than three districts	1001 ~ 1998
		Inter-District	2001 ~ 3998
		Stopping	4001 ~ 5998
	Ordinary passenger traffic	Direct	6001 ~ 6198
	Ordinary passenger traffic	Stopping	6201 ~ 8998
Temporary passenger trains		Direct	L1 ~ L498
Temporary passenger trains		Stopping	L501 ~ L998
Provisional Tourism Train		Direct	Y1 ~ Y498
Provisional Tourism Train		Stopping	Y501 ~ Y998

Source: http://12bbt.5d6d.com/forum-40-1.html & http://www.kepu.net.cn/gb/technology/railway/railway_manage/200401190049.htm 14 April 2009

Destination Identification

Carriage destination and train number are usually found on the center of passenger cars,

The Origin: Wulumuqi

The Desitination: Beijing (West)

Train number: T70/69

Trains

You can classify some standard Chinese trains based on the train types.

The +200km/h CRH EMU’s
DMU’s or electric loco’s, coupled with double decker coaches (in use where passenger movements are high), and
regular carriage stock hauled by diesel or electric traction.

Chinese High Speed EMU’s

The CRH are the back bone of the current 5 year development plan for Chinese railways. There are presently 4 types of CRH in operation

CRH1

Constructed by Bombadier, Max 200km/h, 2006-

Guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway (Hong Kong) 19 Units
Shanghai Railway Bureau 16 Units
2 Subtypes
- CRH1A, 8-car consist, 40 units
- CRH1B, 16 car-consist, 20 units
- CRH1E, under construction, a sleeper version

CRH2

Constructed by Kawasaki, Max 250 km/h (2a/2b/2e), 350km/h (2c), 2005 -

88 Units in operation
4 Subtypes
- CRH2A, 8 car consists
- CRH2B, 16 car consists
- CRH2C, 8 car consists, 300km/h
- CRH2E, 16 car sleeper

I beleive that the CRH2E is the only high speed EMU sleeper in the world. It runs the Beijing-Shanghai route.

CRH3

Design by Siemens (German ICE3), 350 km/h, 2008 -

Currently the fastest unit in production
Feb 2009 – 9 Units, est 57 units by December 2009
8 car consists

Runs on highest speed lines,

Beijing to Tianjin, and
Beijing to Shanghai (when complete)

CRH5

Design by Alstom, 250 km/h Pendolino, 2006 -

Runs predominately in the North East
51 trains in service
8 car consists
and it Tilts

There was a CRH4 on paper only, in fact this project became the CRH2C

DMU’s

DMU’s are, obviously, used on non-electrified lines. Given the expansion of the overhead in china, they can only be found in outlying regions with higher traffic or some special areas like the Great Wall of china near Beijing.

They are a relatively rare sight.

NZJ1&2 , 160km/h, 2001-2003

only operate in the Nanning & Wuhan Railway Bureau’s
8-10 car consists + 2 motor , double deck

NDJ2, 200km/h,2008-

Used for tourist trains between Beijing and the Great Wall
7 carriage + 2 motor
9 units constructed
Sometimes referred to as CRH6, as it is classed in the ‘Harmony’ set of vehicles by CNR

Carriages

The bulk of CNR is run by your everyday loco hauled passenger trains.

The classes or carriage are easy to identify, they are simple sequential numbers.

The types generally refer to the speed they travel.

Stock in service…

Class 18

International Services, Kazakhstan, Mongolia & Russia
120 km/h
Older Green Cars usually with corrugatated sides
most date from the 1960’s
newer models based on Class 19 luxury design or higher
Almost all are YW sleepers and CA diner
Uses a red circle with stars as opposed to the standard red rail symbol
18 class roundel

Class 21

Built 1953-1961
Non-Airconditioned
Green

22C

Class 22,23

Built 1959-1994
Bulk of the Fleet during the 1990’s
up to 120 km/h
Non-air conditioned

Class 24

Built 1980-88
Air Conditioned version of the 22
Rare

Class 25A-

Built 1979-90’s

Current Production Stock…

25B

Class 25B

140 km/h
Non Air Conditioned
Designed to replace 22 series

25G

Class 25G

140 km/h

25K

Class 25K

160 km/h

25T

Class 25T

160 km/h

25T(P)

Class 25T(P)

Built for Tibet Railway
160km/h
Pressurised
Other fittings for the Tibetan plains environment (eg: oxygen)
Overall design also incorporates the ability to operate in isolation for many days with extra food and diesel.
Side note: An original design requirement of the Queensland Rail ‘lander cars was that they could be self sustained for up to 2 weeks should a flood occur.

25Z

Class 25Z

160 km/h
Has 4 classes of interior seating

T series…

The T suffix is for “tekuai” which roughly translates as “very fast”

25DT

Class 25DT

200 km/h
Will eventually replace most 25 classes in production

Luxury

Class 19K & 19T

Luxury Cars
160/200 km/h
RW sleepers and CA Buffet
Very similar to European 1st class carriages, about 16-20 pax
2 Berths per cabin, some have individual showers and toilets
Used predominantly on Z & some T series train. Market is wealthy visitors and western tourists.
Some older 19 Class still run these were built in East Germany during the 1980’s
One night on a RW19Tis roughly AU$180.

Travel Classes

For the majority of travel there are 2 broad classes roughly equivalent to the European 1st and second class. But as it is a communist country with little difference between the middle class most people might place it as “Second” and “Second and a half” class.

Sleepers, compartments

RW Corridor

RW 4 bunk cabin

RW, ruanwoche, Soft Sleepers
- 4 berth cabins

YW Corridor

YW 6 bunk cabin

YW, yingwoche, Hard Sleepers
- 6 berth cabins

Sitting, all open saloon

RZ Soft Seat

CRH Soft Seat

RZ, ruan zuo che, Soft Sitter
- 2+2 arrangement
- Generally Fixed Seating, non-reclining
- Groups of 4 non-reversible seating or reversible groups of 2 newer models
- Open Saloon
- ~95 per car
RZ2, 2nd Class Soft Sitter (25c,25Z, 25DT carriages)
- Same as RZ, however they do have Reclining Seats
- ~75 per car
RZ1, 1st Class Soft Sitter (25c,25Z, 25DT carriages)
- Same as RZ2
- ~70 per car
RZT, Top Class Soft Sitter (25Z, 25DT carriages)
- 2+1 arrangement & 2+2 compartments
- Open Saloon & 4 compartments
- 42 per car
- Shanghai area

YZ Old Style

YZ Hard Seat

CRH Hard Seat

YZ, yingzuoche, Hard Seat
2+3 seating, fixed

Others

CA Dining

CRH Dining

CA, canche, Dining
XL, xingliche, Luggage
KD (FD, TZ), fadianche, Generator
UZ, youzhengche, Postal Vehicles
GW, gongwuche, Government Car

S Prefix, Double Deck Carriage

Identifying the carriage from the outside

On the side of all carriages is the identification number.

side_rw

The Class of Coach. RW is the abbreviated form on the Chinese pronunciation of 1st class
The model of carriage.
The coach number, a 5-6 digit identifier, reiterating the design model and class.
The class of coach in Chinese
The top operational speed of the coach

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