China Travel Forum

[karrot]

I'm planning to go to Xinjiang from Beijing, mostly travelling by train. It's been a while since I was in China and things have no doubt changed a lot. I wonder how feasible it is to get a sleeper ticket between intermediate stations on a long haul train journey in October/November? Say going from Jiayuguan to Turpan on the Xi'an - Urumqi train, for example.My questions: 1) would they even sell you a ticket between intermediate stations on a long haul route?2) If they do, are you guaranteed a seat? The last time I was in China, that was not the case and I had to stand or squat for hours and there wasn't even room on the train for that and people were spitting everywhere.3) Any chance of getting a sleeper ticket? 4) Do they have a computerized train reservation system these days whereby any railway reservation office can see whether there are any seats/berths available on any train?5) Is it possible to upgrade to a soft seat or sleeper once you board the train?

[kamal]

1. Certenly they would sell you the route you are going to cover not houl route if there are any tickets.
2.When you buy ticket , you must declare which kind ticket you want, seelper,seat ,etc. But sometimes there are only ticket without seat.if they haven’t sleeper, they arrange you after they get a empty sleeper if you add some money for sleeper.
3.The chance you can get a sleeper ticket depends on the city. Usually you can get it easily in Larg cities. You have chance to get it in Jiayuguan as Jianyuguan is a middle city in West China.
4.In some cities, you can find the message you need. Most cities can sell ticket beforehand.
5.Yes,if there are empty sleepers on train, you can try for it .

have fun

[ERTHA]

Just did the overnight "soft-seat" sleeper from Kunming to Guiyang earlier this month. What a miserable trip!!! Had the cabin next to the head - jarring door slams and grunting all night. Worst, though, was the smoking. Forget any signs, and put no faith in the door to your cabin. People smoked continuously in the passageway and it just seemed to concentrate in our cabin.We also took several hard-seat day trains between various towns - officially these trains are nonsmoking, but the spaces between cars are filled with guys who can't go for an hour without smoke, and a lot of it drifts into the nonsmoking areas.