I'm planning a trip from Hong Kong to Beijing in the last week of April. We're flying to Beijing, and then we're planning on taking a train to Shanghai from Beijing, then a train back to Hong Kong a couple days later. The train from Shanghai is scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong 3 hours before our flight out of Hong Kong. Are Chinese trains reliable enough to take this risk? Is the Hong Kong train station close enough to the airport to make it in this interval? Or should we shell out the extra $100 each to take a flight from Shanghai instead?
1
astroboy
Are chinese trains reliable enough to take the risk? I'll only mention that my Xi'an to Guangzhou train arrived 12 hours late.
I'd fly. You could also fly to Shenzhen only a little bit extra - and do some extra work to get from the shenzhen airport to the hong kong airport.
2
penfold389
FLY. Spend an extra $100 each to save heaps more on stress and the cost of a missed connection.
Trying to make a connection is certain to raise stress level, why spoil your holidays. Your anxiety waiting for your train to arrive, clear customs and immigration, figure out how to get from station to the airport is certain to lead to quarrels and 'I told you so' arguments.
Whether Chinese trains are reliable to make it on schedule is irrelevant.
I am sure your train arrives in Shenzhen on the border of Hong Kong.
You need to disembark, find your way to customs and immigration.
Do the formalities and then your way to the airport.
3
eastjourneyer
This answers the question perfectly. "I told you so" arguments were exactly what I was afraid of.
Thanks so much!
4
asiahand
Even if your train arrives on time, 3 hours to get from the train station to your gate at the airport, is rather optimistic.
5
justtraveler
<blockquote>Quote
<hr>Are Chinese trains reliable enough to take this risk?<hr></blockquote>
Having some limited experience with Chinese trains, all I can say that you should not take the risk since trains in China can stop in the middle of the way because of technical, unexpected problems. These delays can last for long hours.
6
john33
This would be similar to traveling by train from New York to Jacksonville and I definitely wouldn't depend on going that distance and expecting to be on time. You almost know from the start it won't arrive early so the only option is to be late. As was said, you then easily have nearly three hours of putzing around to arrive at the airport. The HK airport doesn't allow you to the gate if you are 30 minutes late as most boarding requires getting on a special tram out to the aircraft. or at least it was that way at the old airport.
Either take an earlier train, there are several trains going south out of Shanghai, or fly.
Pro tip
Lonely Planet
trusted partner
trusted partner