Hangzhou Train Travel Guide - Travel from Hangzhou by Train
Here you can find useful information on Hangzhou train travel, including Hangzhou train timetable, transportation guide for Hangzhou Railway Station, useful tips for train ticket purchase and booking as well as a list of frequently asked questions to help expatriate travelers like you find answer for train travel problem you may meet .
There are three passenger railway stations in Hangzhou, naming Hangzhou Railway Station, Hangzhou East Railway Station and Hangzhou South Railway Station (the former Xiaoshan Railway Station) respectively.
Hangzhou Railway Station, also known as Chengzhan Railway Station to local people, used to be the city's largest station. It is an original station to many trains.
Hangzhou South Railway Station has been closed for reconstruction and it will be re-opened by the end of 2016. Located in No.1, Tiancheng Road, Jianggan District, Hangzhou East Railway Station started business operation in July 1st, 2013.
Hangzhou Railway Station, or Hangzhou Chengzhan Station, was put into service on December 28, 1999. It lies at the intersection of Huancheng East Road and West Lake Avenue. Riding time from Hangzhou Railway Station to the famous West Lake attraction is about 10 minutes.
Passenger can use taxi, Hangzhou Metro Line 1 or buses (including No.7, No. 39,No. 49, No. 90, No. 100, No. 188 No.210, No. 270, No. 276, No. 525, B3, No. 116, No. 140 and etc) to get to or leave from Hangzhou Railway Station.
The station building is arranged as the elevated waiting room floor, the platform floor as well as the central arrival hall on the ground floor from top to bottom.
Hangzhou East Railway Station, or Hangzhoudong Railway Station, was put into service on July 1st, 2013. As the original station for Ninghang (Nanjing-Hangzhou) high speed railway, Hangyong (Hangzhou-Ningbo) high speed railway, Huhang (Hangzhou-Shanghai) high speed railway, Hangchang (Hangzhou-Changsha) high speed railway and Hanghuang (Hangzhou-Huangshan) high speed railway, Hangzhou East Railway Station is known as one of the biggest train stations in Asia.
Hangzhou East Railway Station adopts the model of departures on the bottom floor and arrivals on the upper floor. Passenger can transfer among train, metro, city bus and taxi easily inside the train station. Having come out from the train station, passengers can find the wharf where they can board water buses to pay visit to the charming scenery along the Grand Canal.
Hangzhou East Railway Station has a daily traffic volume of 50,000 to 60,000 nowadays. It's expected to increase the traffic volume to 100,000 to 120,000 each day by the end of 2020.
The Station building has 5 floors, including metro platform floor on basement 3, metro station floor on basement 2, arrival floor on basement 1, platform floor on ground 1, elevated waiting floor on ground 2.
As you can see from their names, on the platform floor on ground 1 you can see many railway tracks, it is the place where trains stop on; to board the train, passengers should firstly go upstairs to wait the train on the elevated waiting floor; having getting off from the train, passengers should go downstairs from the platform floor to the arrival floor on basement 1 to transfer to bus, taxi and etc to leave the station.
On the elevated waiting floor, there are three ticket offices located in the southwest corner, the northeast corner and the northwest corner respectively. Meanwhile, there are totally six entrance gates inside it including two in south-north direction and four in east-west direction. After having gone through security inspection procedure, passengers can enter the train station through any of these entrance gates. A total number of 28 check-in gates are located in the south part and the north part of the elevated waiting floor with LED television showing the train number to check in overhead. From the waiting floor, passengers can use either staircase or escalator to go downstairs to the platform floor to board the train.
The platform floor on ground 1 has 3 yards including Nanjing-Hangzhou-Ningbo Yard, Shanghai-Hangzhou Changsha Yard as well as the normal speed train yard with 30 lines and 15 platforms in total.
Passengers can get to or leave from Hangzhou East Railway Station by metro line 1. In its neighborhood, there are 2 bus terminal, 1 short and medium distance bus station as well as three wharfs.
Passengers can purchase ticket from any Railway Station in Hangzhou at anytime. Some ticket windows open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You can also reserve ticket through ticket agency. There are more than 60 train ticket agencies in Hangzhou City. Most of these ticket agencies open at 7:00am and close at 5:00pm. To book tickets from ticket agency, you are required to pay addtional CNY 5 Yuan each ticket as booking fee.
www.12306.cn provides online train ticket booking service mainly for local people in China. It is a Chinese website. To book ticket through this website, you should also have a bank account in some local bank as overseas credit card is not accepted by it.
According to the latest official press release, Passengers can reserve train ticket for maximum 20 days (including the journey date) in advance in Hangzhou City. That means, if you want to leave Hangzhou on June 25th, the earliest date you can reserve your ticket is on June 26th.
New Round of ticket selling begins at 3:00pm every day.
China has world's largest population and its railway networks are always very busy. We at China Train Guide.com advise you book your train ticket in advance if you can as you may get disappointed if you purchase ticket on the date of journey.
Chinese rail industry has its own characters and railway rules and regulations are quite different with any other country in the world. Getting familiar with these rules will make your rail travel in China more successful and happy!
Instead of age, China railway has special requirments on height to children to buy child tickets. Requirments on child ticket can be summarized as the follows:
Comparing Different Railway Stations in Hangzhou
There are three passenger railway stations in Hangzhou, naming Hangzhou Railway Station, Hangzhou East Railway Station and Hangzhou South Railway Station (the former Xiaoshan Railway Station) respectively.
Hangzhou Railway Station, also known as Chengzhan Railway Station to local people, used to be the city's largest station. It is an original station to many trains.
Hangzhou South Railway Station has been closed for reconstruction and it will be re-opened by the end of 2016. Located in No.1, Tiancheng Road, Jianggan District, Hangzhou East Railway Station started business operation in July 1st, 2013.
Addresses
- Hangzhou Railway Station: No. 1, Huancheng Dong Road, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. Tel:0571-87829983
- Hangzhou East Railway Station: No. 1, Tiancheng Road, Jianggan District, Hangzhou 310016, Zhejiang China.
- Hangzhou South Railway Station: Chengxiang Town, Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou 311200, Zhejiang China.
Hangzhou Railway Station Map and Guide
Hangzhou Railway Station, or Hangzhou Chengzhan Station, was put into service on December 28, 1999. It lies at the intersection of Huancheng East Road and West Lake Avenue. Riding time from Hangzhou Railway Station to the famous West Lake attraction is about 10 minutes.
Passenger can use taxi, Hangzhou Metro Line 1 or buses (including No.7, No. 39,No. 49, No. 90, No. 100, No. 188 No.210, No. 270, No. 276, No. 525, B3, No. 116, No. 140 and etc) to get to or leave from Hangzhou Railway Station.
The station building is arranged as the elevated waiting room floor, the platform floor as well as the central arrival hall on the ground floor from top to bottom.
Hangzhou Railway Station Map
Click on the map to check it in high resolution
Hangzhou East Railway Station Map (English) and Guide
Hangzhou East Railway Station, or Hangzhoudong Railway Station, was put into service on July 1st, 2013. As the original station for Ninghang (Nanjing-Hangzhou) high speed railway, Hangyong (Hangzhou-Ningbo) high speed railway, Huhang (Hangzhou-Shanghai) high speed railway, Hangchang (Hangzhou-Changsha) high speed railway and Hanghuang (Hangzhou-Huangshan) high speed railway, Hangzhou East Railway Station is known as one of the biggest train stations in Asia.
Hangzhou East Railway Station adopts the model of departures on the bottom floor and arrivals on the upper floor. Passenger can transfer among train, metro, city bus and taxi easily inside the train station. Having come out from the train station, passengers can find the wharf where they can board water buses to pay visit to the charming scenery along the Grand Canal.
Hangzhou East Railway Station has a daily traffic volume of 50,000 to 60,000 nowadays. It's expected to increase the traffic volume to 100,000 to 120,000 each day by the end of 2020.
The Station building has 5 floors, including metro platform floor on basement 3, metro station floor on basement 2, arrival floor on basement 1, platform floor on ground 1, elevated waiting floor on ground 2.
As you can see from their names, on the platform floor on ground 1 you can see many railway tracks, it is the place where trains stop on; to board the train, passengers should firstly go upstairs to wait the train on the elevated waiting floor; having getting off from the train, passengers should go downstairs from the platform floor to the arrival floor on basement 1 to transfer to bus, taxi and etc to leave the station.
On the elevated waiting floor, there are three ticket offices located in the southwest corner, the northeast corner and the northwest corner respectively. Meanwhile, there are totally six entrance gates inside it including two in south-north direction and four in east-west direction. After having gone through security inspection procedure, passengers can enter the train station through any of these entrance gates. A total number of 28 check-in gates are located in the south part and the north part of the elevated waiting floor with LED television showing the train number to check in overhead. From the waiting floor, passengers can use either staircase or escalator to go downstairs to the platform floor to board the train.
The platform floor on ground 1 has 3 yards including Nanjing-Hangzhou-Ningbo Yard, Shanghai-Hangzhou Changsha Yard as well as the normal speed train yard with 30 lines and 15 platforms in total.
Passengers can get to or leave from Hangzhou East Railway Station by metro line 1. In its neighborhood, there are 2 bus terminal, 1 short and medium distance bus station as well as three wharfs.
Hangzhou East Railway Station Map
Click on the map to check it in high resolution
Transportation Guide
Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport to Hangzhou Railway Station
- Option 1. by Airport Express
- Option 2. by taxi
Passengers can take airport bus (15-30 minutes per) from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport to Hangzhou Railway Station directly. Distance is 24 kilometers and journey time is about 50 minutes. Ticket fare is CNY 20 Yuan.
Operation hour is from 5:30am to middle night.
Passenger can also take taxi from the airport to Hangzhou Railway Station. Riding distance is about 28km and taxi fare is about CNY 100 Yuan (for reference only!). Please note, taxi fare quoted here doesn't include highway and bridge tolls.
Hangzhou Xiaoshan Airport to Hangzhou East Railway Station
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To get to Hangzhou East Train Station from Hangzhou Airport, you have at least two options:
- Option 1: taking airport bus from Hangzhou Airport to Hangzhou Railway Staion and transfering to Hangzhou Subway Line 1 there to get to Hangzhou East Train Station.
Total cost is more than CNY 20 Yuan and total riding time is more than 2 hours. - Option 2: Taking a taxi.
Distance between the two places is about 27km, riding time is 30 to 40 minutes and taxi fare is CNY 100 Yuan or so.
Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport to Hangzhou South Railway Station
- There is no direct bus running between Hangzhou Airport and the South Railway Station. We suggest you take a taxi coz it's more convenient and fast. Shortest riding distance between the two places is about 21 kilometers, riding time is about half an hour and taxi fare is about CNY 70 Yuan (for reference only!)
Hangzhou Railway Station to Hangzhou South Railway Station
- Option 1. by Bus
- Option 2. by taxi
Passengers can take No. 537 or No. K300 bus from Hangzhou Railway Station to get to Hangzhou South Railway Station. We recommend No. 537 bus as your first choice as it is faster than K300 bus. Journey time is 40 to 60 minutes by No. 537 bus.
Shortest riding distance between Hangzhou Railway Station and Hangzhou South Railway Station is about 18km, taxi riding time is about 40 minutes and cos is about CNY 60 Yuan.
Transport from Hangzhou Railway Station to Hangzhou West Lake
- Direct bus or subway train is not available between the two places. You can take a taxi to get to Hangzhou West Lake from Hangzhou Railway Station. Ticket fare is about CNY 20 Yuan and Journey time is about 15 minutes.
Transport from Hangzhou South Railway Station to Hangzhou West Lake
- The best way to travel between Hangzhou South Train Station and West Lake is to take taxi as direct bus is not available. Riding distance is about 21km and riding time is about 50 minutes and taxi fare is about CNY 70 Yuan. Please note, taxi fare quoted here doesn't include highway and bridge tolls.
Hangzhou Train Ticket Booking Guide
Ticketing Hours:
Passengers can purchase ticket from any Railway Station in Hangzhou at anytime. Some ticket windows open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
You can also reserve ticket through ticket agency. There are more than 60 train ticket agencies in Hangzhou City. Most of these ticket agencies open at 7:00am and close at 5:00pm. To book tickets from ticket agency, you are required to pay addtional CNY 5 Yuan each ticket as booking fee.
Online Booking:
www.12306.cn provides online train ticket booking service mainly for local people in China. It is a Chinese website. To book ticket through this website, you should also have a bank account in some local bank as overseas credit card is not accepted by it.
Ticket Reservation Period in Hangzhou.
According to the latest official press release, Passengers can reserve train ticket for maximum 20 days (including the journey date) in advance in Hangzhou City. That means, if you want to leave Hangzhou on June 25th, the earliest date you can reserve your ticket is on June 26th.
New Round of ticket selling begins at 3:00pm every day.
China has world's largest population and its railway networks are always very busy. We at China Train Guide.com advise you book your train ticket in advance if you can as you may get disappointed if you purchase ticket on the date of journey.
Tips to Buy Train Tickets in Hangzhou for Foreigners
- Please take the passport with you to purchase train ticket.
- Hangzhou Railway Station opened a bilingual service window for both Chinese and English speakers at its ticketing hall on April 28, 2010. The window number is 12. Staffs working there have good command of English. They are also very kind and nice to communicate with.
- Only Renminbi cash is accepted at the ticketing window.
Railway Rules and Regulations You Should Know
Chinese rail industry has its own characters and railway rules and regulations are quite different with any other country in the world. Getting familiar with these rules will make your rail travel in China more successful and happy!
Luggage Rules:
- Inflammable and explosive dangerous goods, animal and pet are not allowed to take on the train
- Weight requirement to transport luggage free of charge: child passenger can take on board the train baggage under 10kg free of charge and it's under 20kg for adult passenger.
- Size requirements to transport luggage free of charge : total length of the luggage ( length+width+height) should be under 200cm.
- Passengers are required to purchase baggage ticket with overweight or over-sized luggages.
Requirements for Child Tickets
Instead of age, China railway has special requirments on height to children to buy child tickets. Requirments on child ticket can be summarized as the follows:
- Children under 120cm can enjoy free rail travel and don't need to pay for rail travel. In this case, you can let your kid share a same sleeper/seat with you as no seat is assigned to him/her.
- Children between 120cm and 150cm have privileges to buy discounted train tickets. Price for sleeper ticket for child is about 70% of that of adult. Price for seat ticket for child is about 50% of that of adult.
- Children above 150cm should buy fully-priced train tickets no matter how old he/she is.
Questions and Answers on Hangzhou Train Travel
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Question: Can We Purchase Pingyao to Xi'an Train Ticket in Hangzhou?
Would it be possible to book our train tickets in advance at Hangzhou Airport when we arrive. I have tried the website but unfortunately I am not able to speak Chinese.
Regards
Answer:
You can purchase ticket for Pingyao to Xian train in any city in your convenience, it's not a must to purchase ticket in Pingyao. However, to purchast (Pingyao to Xi'an) ticket outside of Pingyao, train station will charge you additional Renminbi 5 Yuan each ticket as processing fee. To purchase ticket through ticket agency, you will be charged Renminbi 10 Yuan each ticket as booking and processing fee. Reason is that you are not purchasing ticket in the departure city (Pingyao). -
Question: Ticket Booth operation hours in Hangzou South Station
I need to know if Hangzhou South Station is open 24x7 and what time does the ticket booth hours operate.
My flight reach at 11pm, by the time reach Hangzhou South Station, it will be almost midnight (12am). And I like to catch the earliest train 1.46am to Shanghai South, so need to know if ticket boot is open.
Answer:
No worry, ticketing halls in most middle and large train stations open all day and all night. That means, you can purchase ticket any time you arrive there. Even though many ticket windows in the ticketing hall may be closed in the middle night and early morning, at least one ticket window will keep open to serve passengers for urgent need. -
Question: Luxury Cabin on T32
Planning to go to Beijing by overnight train from Hangzhou. There are six of us. We will need 4 in one compartment (soft sleeper) and 2 people in one luxury compartment(soft sleepers)on July 4? Does train T32 have these compartments available?
Answer:
T32 train does have standard soft sleeper compartment and luxury soft sleeper compartment.
Price for standard soft sleeper is CNY 515 Yuan for the upper or CNY 537 Yuan for the lower.
Price for a deluxe soft sleeper cabin would cost you CNY 1940 Yuan including CNY 949 Yuan for the upper bed and CNY 991 Yuan for the lower one. -
Question: Transport Luggage on Hangzhou-Beijing Train
Can you please tell me how I can transport suitcases (too big for overhead rack) onboard the train from Beijing to Hangzhou?
Answer:
Firstly, I want to tell you. If you want to use the charged luggage transportation services, please ignore these high speed bullet trains including D trains and G trains as the bullet train has no luggage coach. That means, you should book a normal train so that you can travel with your luggage.
Here are the steps:
You should go to the luggage office of Hangzhou train station to fill courier form if you want to pay for luggage transportation. Luggage transportation procedures should be completed at least 30 minutes before the departure of the train, the earlier the better.
You have two options to choose:
1. Departure station to terminal station. For this option, you should take your suitcases to the luggage office of the departure station and pick up the luggage at the luggage office of the terminal station yourself.
2. Designated place to designated place. For this option, the railway courier company will collect and deliver suitcase to the places you specified. You don't have to take trouble to transport the heavy suitcase yourself from your home to the railway station and etc.
We don't have standard rate for luggage transportation yet. -
Question: Passport
Hello, I am currently living and working in Hangzhou as a foreign expat and I have come to Beijing to apply for an Italian Tourist visa. Can I travel back to Hangzhou with a copy of my passport and a copy of my residency permit which has a stamp from visa office and receipt of payment for visa. The embassy assured me that I there would be no problem but I would like to make sure.
Answer:
No worry, there should be no problem to purchase train ticket by showing a copy of your passport. We have customer who met similar problem with you and wanted to travel on Beijing-Shanghai high speed bullet train, the railway department gave him special permission and he has successfully obtained train ticket.
Our understanding is: the railway department wants passport to confirm the identity, original passport or scanned passport doesn't make sense on this matter as long as it's real to show your identity. -
Question: Ticket Date Changing
Can i change the date of ticket booked from beijing to hanzgho on may 6th to a later date ?
Answer:
Yep, you can.
However, you will have to go to the departure train station to change ticket date as ticket agency has no right to do so. No fee is involved to change ticket date. They will change date for you as long as there are remaining ticket on the date you want to change to. -
Question: Train Services Hangzhou-Guangzhou
1. is there a private washroom for the soft sleeper coach?
2.is the sleeper coach in the safety confined area or in the opened space whereby easily accessible by other passengers?
3.is there any cafeteria service on coach?
4. what other services that are provided on sleeper bed coach?
Answer:
1.yep, there are two washrooms in each soft sleeper car. Maybe you don't know, there are 36 soft sleepers located in 9 compartments in each soft sleeper coach. That means, maximum 18 people can share a washroom in the soft sleeper coach. That's a big improvement comparing to the seat coach. In the seat coach, more than 50 people share a washroom. Washrooms in the soft sleeper coach remain unused most of the time.
2.The sleeper cabin has a door and you can locked it inside. That means, nobody can enter your "territory" without the permission of you as well as other three travel mates who share a same sleeper cabin with you which makes it much safer.
3.Yep, there is a restaurant on the train, which is usually locates on the number 9 train car. Please note, breakfast, lunch and dinner fee is not covered in the soft sleeper ticket price. That means, you will have to pay again for the food you wanted.
4.There is a kettle in each sleeper cabin filled with boiled water. You can feel free to pour water to your cup/bottle whenever you want it. Slippers are also provided inside the soft sleeper cabin.
Question: Monthly Pass -
Question: Changing Trains
Hello there, My partner and I travelling to China for a business. We are due to take a train from Hangzhou to Beijing. Can we stop in our way in Shanghai with the same ticket or do we have to have two tickets? Thanks
Answer:
You will have to purchase a ticket for each journey, it's not allowed to get off the train on the middle route and then board another train with the same previous ticket. One ticket corresponds to one specified train on the specified route and date.
Hello, we are coming from Canada and planning on living in Hangzhou but travelling everyday to Shanghai for employment. How much would a monthly pass be?
Answer:
Monthly or yearly rail pass is not avaliable for travelers yet, that means, you will have to purchase tickets for each train you used to travel around. It's said the railway department is discussing on issuing of such pass on the high speed bullet trains such as Shanghai to Hangzhou and etc, however, we don't have its timetable yet.