Bullet Train

[roddy]

Beijing to Guangzhou, 10 hours. Wow.

[imron]

It's only 3 hours 15 minutes by plane, which is probably less expensive and less dangerous too.

[roddy]

No sense of adventure, Imron...

[icebear]

It's only 3 hours 15 minutes by plane, which is probably less expensive and less dangerous too.

For trips as far as Guangzhou this matters less... but keep in mind that going to the airport, through security, etc adds at least 2 hours to your trip (maybe 3) since you are advised to "arrive 2 hours early". Meanwhile for trains its very flexible and generally the stations are better located within the city. Not to mentioned the frequency with which air travel is delayed in China these days (due to limited air space for civilian use and big "pile ups" in the available air lanes), while trains mostly run on schedule. I know a number of professionals who frequent go between Beijing and the Shanghai area and prefer to use train for these reasons - plus the fact that the have 3g the whole time, a spacious dining car to work in, etc.

Not sure how the business crowd will take this longer route...

[anonymoose]

In October I did Beijing to Shanghai. It took about 5h30 (there are faster trains that do it in about 4h30). It was very comfortable and more convenient than plane. Although the actual traveling time is longer, it think the overall journey probably took less time by train, given that there's no getting to/from the airport (the train stations are more central than the airports), one doesn't have to check in in advance, there's little waiting for security, and there's no hanging around at the gate.

[gato]

The article says that there 35 stations between Beijing and Guangzhou. This should be very good for the shorter journeys, like from Nanjing to Beijing, or Wuhan to Guangzhou, that would take longer if one went the airport route.

[zhouhaochen]

when you add the 2 hours you spend at the airport and on the airport expressway in both cities, plus the most likely hours of delay (a felt 10 hours every time, thought it might actually be slightly less in real time) and the New York Times (link behind paywall) reporting the journey at 8 hours long, the time difference might be not that big.

Also, not having to eat the food on an Air China flight alone is worth a couple of extra hours.

Questions is - when will they extend to HK?

[Takeshi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou–Hong_Kong_high-speed_rail_controversy

[Cat Jones]

For internal flights you only need to be in the airport about an hour beforehand, not 2 hours. Well, I'm never there 2 hours in advance...

I flew from Beijing Nanyang airport last week - what a little gem of an airport! Much easier to get to than the big 'un.

[anonymoose]

You flew on China United Airlines.

[Cat Jones]

I did indeed. They were pretty good!