Train from Shanghai to Suzhou

Train Schedules can be found in http://www.huochepiao.com/City/Shanghai/

Facts:
Express Train (动车) from Shanghai to Suzhou
Time: 35 minutes
Fare: RMB 26 (2nd class)

Taking train in China is a culture-shocking experience! Before you choose to travel by train, you need to prepare mentally that you will be travelling with lots of people. Be prepared that you will be squeezed in crowded train stations while waiting to get on board to the train. Be prepared that you may not be able to travel at the desired timeslots to your destination, due to sold-out tickets! China, with just over 1.3 billion people, is the world's largest and most populous country. Hence, you see people everywhere in China, especially true in major cities like Shanghai, where there are alot of people coming from rural areas or other cities in China. And in places like Long-Distance Bus Stations and Train Stations, there are hell lot of people! You cannot imagine how crowded and chaotic at these places until you visit them! Personally, if I have a choice, I would like to avoid Train Stations and Bus Stations!

Please allow me to share what I have experienced while I was travelling to Suzhou from Shanghai. I have arrived at the train station at around 10:30am on Monday (20-Apr) morning. As expected, there were people everywhere:

• people who were carrying their luggages, walking from one end to the other end, seemed to be lost in the crowd! Stretching the neck & head, looking for signs for directions! I was one of them! haha!
  
• people sitting in the open area with their luggages waiting for their turn to get into the train station (only those with a valid train tickets, which were departing within 2 hours, are allowed to enter the train stations)
• people approaching you and ask you where you were heading, and they wished to sell tickets to you. You might buy train tickets from them, at your own risk.
  

Finally, I found the hall selling train tickets by the automated machines! It was crowded (as expected). There were specific machines selling tickets to Suzhou, I chose one of the queue (I can hardly see the lines of queue, as it was so crowded that the queues had apparently merged and there was no clear differentiation between one queue from another!). While we were queuing, the officer in-charge of the hall made an announcement, to ask us to go to another hall (50 metres away), to buy tickets from the ticketing counter operated by human. There were less people there! A big group of people left for that destination and I followed!

Upon arrival at that hall, it was not true that there were less people! It was as crowded! Anyway, since I was already there, I joined the queue! When I got to the counter, I am surprised that the officer told me that all tickets to Suzhou were sold-out!!! I asked in Mandarin, "Do you mean all tickets sold out for the entire day?". The officer said "Yes!" How could this be happening? I knew that there were many trains travelling between Shanghai and Suzhou, how could it be that all were sold-out?!

Not believing what I heard, I returned to the automated machines to buy tickets. By then, I have lost at least half an hour! I should not have left the queue from the automated machines! To make it worst, I joined the wrong queue! There was a lady in the queue, who was buying many tickets, and she was taking a long time (more than 5 minutes in buying the tickets)! All the people in the queue were shouting at her to hurry up, but she didnt seem to bother too much by the shouting. We knew tickets were running out, and soon, I was second in the queue, so I had a good look at the various timeslots! It was about 11:45am, and there was a train to Suzhou at 12:10pm, sounded like an excellent choice for me to get into that train! When it was my turn, to my astonishment, the ticket for that 12:10pm was sold out!!! Oh my god! The earliest available train is 1:48pm, almost 2 hours of waiting! Sigh...no choice...I bought a ticket for that train at 1:48pm.

I was so unlucky that day! And I was still wondering why that officer at the ticketing booth told me that all tickets to Suzhou were sold out?!

Anyway, this was a bad experience. What did I learn from this? I better buy a train ticket in advance! Hence, for my trip from Suzhou to Hangzhou and Hangzhou back to Shanghai, I bought the train tickets in advance, to have a comfort of mind!

While taking train in China

• Take care of your belongings always! Lots of pick-pockets or theives around!
• Buy the ticket in advance, especially for destination which is popular or specific train. (For example, from Suzhou to Hangzhou, there is only one Express Train in a day, so tickets may be selling out very quickly.
• Keep your valuables with you. Cameras and Wallets to be carried in front of you.
• In the Waiting Hall, it was very crowded amd stuffy. You need not wait inside the hall, only get in when the gates are opened.
  
• Inside the train, don't put your valuables on the overhead luggage compartment. It is not safe to put it there. Carry it in front of you, or rest the bag under your feet, within line of sight always!
  
• If you need to go to the toilet in the train, bring along your valuables. And do so, when the train just leaves the station, try not to go to the toilet when the train is approaching a station. Passengers may take your belongings and leave the train!

I am not suggesting you not to take train in China, taking train is still more economical (as compared to flying) and sometimes, more efficient for cities which are nearer. Just be vigilant!


This is the train I took from Shanghai to Suzhou. It only takes 35 minutes! It travels at 170 km/h (although the highest possible speed of this train is 300 km/h)


The train is quite comfortable, and clean!