The bullet train. 1000 miles from Hangzhou to Shenzhen

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August 30th 2014

Published: September 4th 2014

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Ed Dawes

Hangzhou Railway station

So to get from Hanzhou to Shenzhen we were to take the Bullet train. The train reaches over 240 kph with the top speed I saw on the screen being 236 kph. The journey was around 1000 miles with it taking in total over 10.5 hours. There are numerous stops on the way although the same train for the whole journey. The departure was at 7.37am at Hangzhou station. The largest rail station in Asia. The set up was like an airport in terms of a departures and arrivals sections. To enter the departures you also needed to go through luggage Secruity and had to have your ticket present. Once in departures you would also then need to wait at your gate whereby you only had access to the platform 15mins prior to the arrival of your train. Your ticket seat number also determined where u had to line up to get on the train, Which made it quite an orderly method to get on the train rather than the
usual line of passengers on the platform, trying to squeeze in what ever door seemed to arrive near them in the uk. This also reduces the risk of a mad rush

Hangzhou Railway Station

from one end of a platform to the other if you guessed wrong for which end of the platform your coach would arrive at.
Once on the train after getting to out seats it seems quite relaxing. The leg room was plentiful and the seats seemed comfortable.
After a few stopped the train seemed to transform to a circus. Kids running around everyone making noise and shouting and so on. Each carriage seemed to have it's unique characteristics also. Some were very relaxed and quiet, and some were very loud. Sat in front of me was a guy who was watching some awful Chinese film on his laptop, but instead of having headphones in he just had it full blast for everyone else to hear.
There were regular staff going down the isle selling food and drink but just shouted in Chinese and to get their attention was difficult so ended up walking to the far end of the train which happened to have a shop selling hot meals and noodle dishes. On each carriage there were a boiling water tap which many passengers used to put water into their pre-bought noodles.
I would say the whole experience of spending

Hangzhou Railway Station

Inside Departures just in front of a queue to a gate

10.5 hours on a train was not something I would like to repeat any time
Soon, the views on the way however were amazing. Going from Hangzhou through southern china to Shenzhen you realise how large this country is and how different each location looks. The weather also has a huge factor to play in this. During the start of the journey the sky's were white with pollution and the housing and areas seemed very damp and old. Some just looked like ghost towns. During the second half of the journey the temperature increased to above 39•c and the sun and blue sky's were more visible closer we got to Shenzhen. One thing which stood out while site-seeing was how much development was taking place. Almost every town had around 8 or so huge apartment blocks in the process of being built.

I think I would most definitely get the bullet train next time I need to travel across china but mostly due to the 430 RMB price tag £43). That price for a 1000 mile trip is good going and far leas than a plane journey. I however would make sure I book a window seat, so if