I wasn't planning to hop on China's high-speed rail bandwagon due to my direct flight from Hangzhou to Beijing. I thought if I took high-speed rail I would have to go to Shanghai first and would entail added time and expenses. Later, I changed my mind thanks to the cancellation of my flight because of the foul weather. I wasn't sure what's going to happen on next day's weather, so I decided to take high-speed rail instead of flying.
On the trip from the airport to Hangzhou Railroad Station, I was thinking, it would be nice if I travel from Hangzhou to Beijing nonstop. But this turn of fate, the cancelled flight, made me stay one extra day and I was scrambling to find a hotel. Then I braved the 30-degrees Celsius heat and went to Hangzhou Railroad Station. I had to swim through the huge crowd to secure a ticket to Beijing. Unexpectedly, I saw the high-speed rail ticket booth with very few people around. After talking to the cashier, I was surprised to find out that there is a nonstop train service for Beijing. Can you believe that!
Due to the Real-Name System, I submit my ID at the booth; I asked for the schedule of the earliest train leaving for Beijing and I was told it would be 7:22am next day. No problem. I also checked the price; it was ￥1,065, more than a comparable air fare. Anyhow, the way I see it, if I could enjoy the brand spanking new high-speed rail, only open for three days, it would be well worth the trip.
The hotel, a 4-star one, is located across the street from the Railroad Station, only 50 meters apart. The room is clean, cafeteria food genuine; very nice. I would give it a high rating at elong.com. The next day, I woke up one hour before the scheduled departure train, checked out the hotel, and walked straight to the Station. When I checked my time, I realized I still had half an hour to kill before the departure. It's great. If I took the flight, I would have had to wake up four hours earlier.
The High-speed Rail continues to use the original Railroad Station without building another one. It's still in the morning and the waiting room is warm. While waiting, I was sort of excited even though I had been out travelling numerous times, but this was the first time I felt like this. When I entered the platform I did not see the ticket punches being used but instead we fed the tickets through a machine just like the ones used in a metro station.
Once entering the platform, you could see the train hunkering down silently. I did not hurry in the car but stood there watching it in serenity. Frankly, I was little disappointed because I had rode some EMUs (electric multiple units) at 200km and 250km speeds before; when I witnessed this genuine high-speed rail I didn't get the excitement as I should've had. Meanwhile, the train was not as clean a white dragon as I expected for it was used only two previous days, and it was the first train to leave that day. It was stained and dusty. It looked like it wasn't washed after each day's use. Another disappointment is that I did not see these attendants smiling and greeting passengers at the door entrances. Some of the car entrances were left unattended and passengers were allowed to get in at will. Later on, I was told that not every coach was staffed with attendants; as a matter of fact, we only had five attendants for the whole 16-car train. The others are mobile service personnel.
There is still room for improvement on the flexible gangway connection, in my opinion. According to past CCTV reporting, these connections were improved on the top of original imported cars in order to reduce air resistance; thus achieved noise reduction greatly.
Since the train departed, I walked in different coaches and I found the occupancy rate pretty high. It's almost full on second-class coaches, 70% occupancy rate in my first-class coach, none in the business-class coach. Strangely, there were two passengers in the sightseeing car, I don't know if they bribed their way in or they actually paid for the tickets. Mind you, business-class coach fare is twice the first-class; as you can tell that the sightseeing car fare is even more expensive.
Seats in the high-speed rail are roomy but not necessarily comfortable. I believe the seatbacks are too straight and flat, not contoured enough. You can recline the seat with a footrest about 30 degree. A small tray table, just like the one in an airline seat, can be pulled up from the armrest.
Next to my car was a business-class coach. After having obtained permission, I was allowed to observe business-class chairs. This one, similar to an airline business-class chair, was reclined to a sloped flat position. Basically, you can lie flat on it at an angle except it wasn't soft enough.
When I was surveying business-class chairs, the middle-aged gentleman in white short-sleeved shirt (shown on the above pictures) was enthusiastically explaining to me the way to operate a chair, I then had a conversation with him. He asked me what do I do. I told him that I'm not a reporter, nor an agent, a mere passenger instead. I gave him my business card and he invited me to a chair. We talked for thirty minutes. During that time, an attendant came over and blew down his ear – I had a feeling that they were talking about me. A moment later, another attendant came to me and asked me if I was finished with my observations – she wanted me to go back to my first-class coach when I was done. This middle-aged man told me it's alright that I could stay and carry on the conversation.
I asked the man in white shirt what does he do; he smiled and said he serves passengers. I replied, yes, in a sense, your Minister (of Railways) serves passengers too. He laughed and said he is from Shanghai Bureau.
The glass screen that divides the driver cabin and sightseeing car is not completely transparent. It's tinted with light blue; hence you can't see into the driver cabin very clearly.
This is the sightseeing car located at the end of the train and next to a first-class coach. I took several pictures with permission.
This is a flexible gangway connection between a first-class coach and a business-class coach. High-speed railways uses polyamine boards with wood grain veneer as interior decoration. Don't you think it's a bit outdated?
The flexible gangway connection looks refined and seamless.
An inside view of a car door
I stumbled into cases of soft drinks laid on the floor in a first-class coach. The man in white shirt told me that there are no storage rooms reserved on the train; therefore, the supplies have to be placed at wherever room is available.
I found out some rows or seats with no windows; if you stay in one of them, you would be bored.
The configuration of seating here is not related to where windows are located. During the past rides of other EMUs, I noticed each row corresponds with a window; but this is not the case. I believe it is due to expanded spaces between windows that cause the above situation. Why are the windows spaced apart? To leave the car body structure strong or to save money?
Attendants still check tickets and record them the same way they used to do in the last several decades – by pens and papers. I asked the gentleman in white shirt, why didn't they use scanners? The present-day tickets employ the latest barcode technologies that would definitely facilitate an efficient, accurate, and fast ticket inspection. The man said it's not part of their job; it is attendants who figured out a way to track the demands of passengers for their own sakes. I said if attendants deem it necessary to help them work more efficiently, why not give them all the necessary equipment? After all, hundreds of billions yuans were spent, providing an attendant with a tablet PC with a built-in scanner would be the least problem. Moments later, an attendant got mixed up and sent the wrong soft drinks and snacks to some passengers who came in late. And another attendant came over and helped her, then asked her why didn’t she record the customers' orders? She said the conductor told her not to write them down. I was wondering if the things I talked about during the conversation, with this gentleman, had any bearing with this.
A complimentary snack of cookies provided by the high-speed rail
On the high-speed rail, there is no complimentary meal available. But this morning at 7:22am, the first train left the Hangzhou Train Station; I don't know how many people had breakfast already? Interestingly, the high-speed rail does not provide breakfast, only lunch, ¥35. I took EMUs during the time I visited the Mainland, the price of the same style lunch is ¥30, and it also includes a box of fast-food soup to boot.
I remember when the high-speed rail construction had just begun, there were reports that high-speed rail would implement a full Internet coverage. These articles were still marked as stickies on Aihua's High-speed Rail Forum. But for some reason, my computer only got weak Internet signals and I wasn't able to log on the Internet.
From this picture you can see, the high-speed rail ran at speed of 350 km/h. This is where the mystery comes in. Since the new minister took office with the announcement of the speed reduction, there was no more report of 350 km/h high-speed train. Moreover, this rate is not instantaneous, from Hangzhou to Shanghai it has been maintaining at this speed; after leaving Shanghai it changed to 310 km, not 300 km.
I asked the man in white shirt why the train was running at different speeds? He said, because the Shanghai-Hangzhou line had been opened much earlier, that is, the speed has been set, no change needed. I said, according to your minister, slowing down the speeds would reduce maintenance costs by 60%, then why don't you do it on this section to reduce maintenance costs? He said that speed reduction will have bad impact on society. I said the speed of Shanghai-Beijing line was stipulated at 350 km/h, now at 300 km/h, as far as social impact goes, why do you not worry about that? He said there's nothing he can do if I don't believe him. I said, I was going to believe him, but I'm not convinced yet. For example, originally, it doesn't matter at what speed the train was set, let's say, at 350 km/h or 380 km/h, it certainly had gone through a lot of research by experts and a consensus was reached as a result. The State Council's approval also has to be based on scientific validity. With the current changed speeds, are we saying the past findings were all wrong? He smiled and said no comment.
Another Harmony train moving into Shanghai Hongqiao Station; evidently it's not a high-speed rail.
Nanjing South Station
Xuzhou East Station
Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, the most unique station
Shanghai Hongqiao Station
This is Beijing South Railway Station. Much better than the West Railway Station, very convenient to come to the station taxi office, there are many taxis ready to serve.
After talking to the men in white shirt, I returned to my first-class seat, and jotted down what I'd learned. While I was writing, the gentleman came over and told me there is a power source under my seat. I then told him that the High-speed Rail does not have power sources. He was seriously about it and went out of his way to tell me the power is there, under the seat which is equivalent to where a life jacket located under an airplane seat. Both of us bent over and searched for it for a long while; finally we saw the receptacle under the seat. I am puzzled, asked why not put it in an easier place? He smiled and said, we still have a lot room for improvement.
I showed him the outline of a few thoughts of the high-speed rail I'd experienced so far. He said, he was happy to see that I paid so much attention to the high-speed rail, but wished me not post it online because I wrote a few more negative things which could ferment displeasure online, and it may change the taste. I assured him that I am certainly not a big mouth; I'm 100% for the High-speed Rail system and much encouraged to see what the High-speed Rail has achieved so far. But I am also realistic enough to point out the things that need improved in order to make our High-speed Rail better. He said he liked talking with me, he acknowledged that there is not much opportunity to do this kind of communication with passengers, and it's a pragmatic and frank exchange.
This person is certainly a member of Railways cadre, and his rank is not low. Later, I heard from a friend, also a friend of a Railways executive, senior executives were asked by the Ministry of Railways to ride with the trains and draw on firsthand experiences. In this gentleman, I saw the railway sector in earnest style and pragmatic attitude, not bureaucratic, unassuming, and a good grasp of its scale, no trickery in the whole process of conversation, and no hint of mystery. I think such a railroad executive management is reassuring.
Here I use several "most" to sum up my experience with the high-speed rail:
1. the most surprising: High-speed rail was still running at 350 km/h, but since the speed reduction, the media no longer reports this speed. Between Beijing and Shanghai, the speed was not 300 km/h but 310 km/h instead. I even doubt the arguments that this speed reduction is connected solely for the reduction of costs and resulting price reductions.
2. the most regrettable: I did not see the smiling attendant at the car door to greet visitors. Are those sweet smiles only made available to the leadership or the media? The train had just been used for two days; it was stained the next day, why not clean it? Leaving the supplies on the floor makes me question our coach designers; did they not know the need of storage spaces? Did they ever talked to railroad attendants during their design? Who was the master that designated those seats with no windows? China's high-speed rail is the world leading technology; at the same time, can we make the "human-oriented" arrangement just as good? Car's interior is also in poor taste, aesthetic improvements are definitely needed. The most advanced technology in such a compartment, using pens and papers to record passengers' seat numbers and destinations by the crew is the scene I used to see when I was a kid; has anyone thought about making crew's job easier?
3. the most desired: To furnish a complete presentation of the High-speed Rail booklet on each seat, fully illustrated, so that passengers can learn more about the High-speed Rail. We also ought to provide a train timetable of trips stops and arrival/departure times to each passenger. To keep public better informed, we should supply introductions of world-record-breaking feats of the High-speed Rail has built as well as other outstanding structures such as bridges, tunnels, and so on. With a timetable, the passengers would be able to know in advance and enjoy famous scenic spots along the major construction projects at the right times. These will certainly give passengers more pleasure in their travelling experience.
4. the most satisfying: The high-speed rail I rode departed on time from the Hangzhou Station, and arrived at the Beijing South Station on the dot. The High-speed Rail really deserves its reputation, very stable indeed. Although I know that if it runs at more than 300 km/h with a smidgen of instability it would lead to an accident, but I was still amazed how secure it was at the speed of more than 300 km/h. I didn’t use any cigarette stand up, Coke bottles upside down as the way the entertainment reporters would do to measure its stability, but as long as you sit there quietly, you know, it is indeed very stable.
5. the most overstated: In the beginning of the construction of the High-speed Rail, it claimed to cover the whole trip with Internet connections, that's blowing smoke. A few days before I bought my high-speed rail ticket, CCTV had announced that high-speed rail tickets can be purchased online, and said it was the first of Chinese railroad history. Let's see if you can purchase tickets at the site published by the Railways authority: http://www.12306.cn