CHINA Railway (CR) will introduce new limited-stop and overnight sleeper trains when the new national timetable comes into force on July 1. There will also be an expansion of scheduled freight services.
CR is expanding services to cope with rising traffic. Between January and May, CR carried 1.86 billion passengers, a year-on-year increase of 7.3%, setting a new record.
Limited-stop trains have fewer stops, run at higher speeds and offer shorter journey times. From July 1, the number of limited-stop trains on the Hangzhou - Changsha section of the Shanghai - Kunming high-speed line will increase to 46.
The Beijing - Shenyang section of the Beijing - Harbin high-speed line will have an additional 24 limited-stop trains. In addition, limited-stop Harbin - Beijing high-speed trains will be extended to Beijing West station for the first time.
Sleeper trains
Sleeper trains will be introduced for the first time on the following routes:
- Beijing - Chengdu
- Beijing - Guiyang
- Shanghai - Chengdu
- Shanghai - Yibin, and
- Taiyuan - Shenzhen.
Journey times are also being cut with the introduction of the new timetable. For example, the journey time from Beijing to Shenyang will be cut by 15 minutes to 2h 29min. CR says the fastest time from Nanning to Guiyang will be 2h 3min. G category EMUs will be introduced between Yinchuan and Chongqing to achieve a 9h 22min journey time. The four ordinary category trains operating between Shanghai and Nanning will be upgraded to D trains, with a fastest journey time of 18h 43min.
New lines
The Chongqing East - Qianjiang section of the Chongqing - Xiamen high-speed line has recently completed testing. When the line opens, 18 high-speed trains will be introduced between Chongqing and Qianjiang daily, and 32 high-speed trains will be added from western cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing to run through to central China cities such as Changsha and Nanchang.
The rebuilt Rizhao station will become fully operational on July 1 and will be served by 34 EMUs and 10 ordinary passenger trains. In addition to multiple EMUs from Rizhao to Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities, 10 EMUs will be added from Rizhao to Zhengzhou, Wuhan and other central and western cities.
EMUs will operate from Hohhot to Hankou and Yangzhou for the first time, improving rail travel between Inner Mongolia and the central and eastern regions.
From July 1, CR will operate 13,302 scheduled passenger trains and 23,635 freight trains. The number of freight trains will be increased by 424, including 193 fast freight trains, two inter-city fast trains, and four intermodal fast trains. In addition, 11 Central Asia trains will be introduced on the China-Laos Railway.
