Chinese passenger cars. China

There is such a cool blogger Kim Korshunov, he is a browser program "Miracle of Technology" on NTV, he is the editor-in-chief of the site of the same name and channel onyouTube . He decided to go from Shanghai to Beijing by train.

There were three options: either a super fast train, which is all probably seen in some gears. Either the usual reserved sequarters, like us, or a luxury version of a placentar (these are the newest trains, are about a dozen to all China).

Ticket price

The fastest option passes 1500 km from Shanghai to Beijing for 4.3 hours. But the ticket costs something like a plane. Most a budget option costs about 2000 rubles. Wagons there almost exactly exactly the same as we. Well, the price, actually, too.

The intermediate option that Kim called the "coolest placentar in the world" stands at about 6,000 rubles. Expensive, but there are several moments. First, this is a suite (about it below), secondly, the ticket was bought on the day of departure, one can say an hour before departure (if you take in advance, it will be cheaper, and if you use any benefits, even cheaper). Thirdly, such a train goes only 11 hours. We have for comparison this distance the train would go clock for 16, or even 20.

Separately, I want to say about buying tickets. Railways everything is much more convenient. I went to the app, bought a ticket in 5 clicks and that's it. No paper, no queues, no cash.

A train

Outside the train is very similar to our Sapsan. Well, in speed, in fact, too, the same thing. The usual cruising speed is 120-160 km / h. All the time the path was 3 stops.

From the side of the train seems to be two-storey, because the windows are in two rows, but in size it is about the same as the usual Russian one-storey car. There is no second floor, just at the lower and upper passengers their own small windows. With your individual blinds. And in general, despite the fact that this is a reserved seat, personal space is minimized as possible - about it next.

In the wagon

As such cars in the train there are no. The whole train is a long "gut" without doors and tambouries, like us. On the one hand, it is good, you can move around the ride.

On the other hand smoke nowhere. If someone is loudly snoring or some child will arrange hysterical, it will be heard not only in one car. Also, the entire train will have to listen to the door to the toilet. And they knock. But it is noteworthy that they do not clap and, despite good noise insulation, in the entire train silence.

Conductors and tea

When landing in a train, no one checks no documents, although then the conductor still passes through the train. I do not know how many conductors for the whole train, but it seems that one. That is, one conductor and 2 cleaners (yes, in China, the conductor and a cleaner are different people).

In addition to the fact that the absence of a large number of conductors is a decrease in costs, they are in principle and not needed. But the other side of the chap is not to order anyone, no one gives the cups for free. Chess also need to carry with you. Cookies and newspapers Nobody crashes, souvenirs and lottery tickets too.

The car-restaurant is just a counter where you can buy a local "Dashirak" and some garbage. But tea, by the way, no.

There is free drinking water in the car. But I do not surprise us, we also have it.

Restroom

Toilet as a toilet. Nothing special. There is no soul if anyone is interested. Toilets are pairing, opposite each other. Toilets, of course, bio. Everything is clean, it smells nice (there is a hanging fragrance of the type "Christmas tree").

A distinctive feature - in addition to small shells in the toilet room, there are still sinks nearby. That is, if you need just a sink to wash or wash something, you do not need to take the toilet.

Organization of space

As I said, the car is a departure, but the places always want to call the coupe, because everyone has its own place. I would even say that this reserved sewage gives much more privacy and convenience than our coupe.

Each place has its own curtain. You can closing and no one will disturb you.

Normal ladies lead to the second floor and no one will attack your bed, on your table and so on. And if the curtain is closed, then you will not notice that someone climbs or descends.

It is very pleased that all the places are located along the car, and not across (hello, Russian Railways), so that no legs stick out in the passage. It's straight giant plus. Moreover, places are arranged so that you can stretch into full, about it next. In general, you go calmly, you are not dumbfounded, other people's socks do not smell, the passage is wide.

Personal space

Your place in the Chinese placenta is not just a place on the bench and bed - it's a straight small room, even with the curtain instead of the door. The curtain, by the way, is very high quality and with magnetics, so as not to be opened. In general, I must say that everything is done qualitatively, reliable, powerfully. At least such an impression.

Everyone has a table (and on the second floor too!), Each personal lighting (German, among other things from Schneider Electric), a point lamp for reading, a universal socket (American connector, European and USB), mesh-pockets and three hooks for clothes.

With hooks, truth, a small confusion. Since all hooks above the bed, hang a long coat or a fur coat will not work - the floors will be ababy how to lie on the bed and interfere.

As I spoke at the beginning, everyone has its own window. And each window has its own personal curtain. This is cool in fact. Such your little corner. No matter how to fight and argue about, open a curtain or close.

Bed

Let's start with the fact that all places are already filled (both on top, and below), there are slippers of different colors (apparently the neighbors do not confuse). Bag can be removed under the bed - the half of the half is placed there.

On the bed you can sit at the table. You can sit, stretching my legs on the bed, leaning my head on the wall, on which a soft headrest is prudently made.

There are no mattresses in Chinese trains, instead of them something like a soft blanket, then a sheet, blanket, pillow. Pillow, by the way, buckwheat.

Bed length is about 2.0 meters. And this, by the way, surprises, because the average growth of the Chinese - 165 cm in men and 155 in women (new Russian Railways cars seem to have done just on Chinese standards, because the usual European is not placed there well).

In general, as you can see, there are Chinese new trains as the pros and cons. In some things, Russian Railways I like more, but in terms of organizing a personal space, Chinese cars are definitely better. Something resemble capsule hotels, only cooler. And more: some amazing way the wagons have a very smooth move. No shocks, pitching, jerks and quiet.

How do you? What cars do you seem better: ours or Chinese?

Looks like a person can not do without comparison. So many times noticed for me for other people. As soon as we face some new phenomenon, we are looking for in mind, and whether we did not meet something similar. And if we find, then immediately begin to look for the differences between similar objects.

Apparently, therefore, sitting in a second-class car of the Chinese train, which brings me from Manchuria to Beijing, I involuntarily noted about his similarities and differences from the Russian placentar, in which I had a chance to drive a lot of kilometers in my native country.

First of all, I must say that in China there are two types of trains: high-speed (in which there are no beds in principle, only armchairs) and ordinary. In the usual train, the wagons are divided into three classes: soft sleeping (throughout our coupe), hard sleeping (our reserved seats) and a car with seating places. Ordinary trains slower high times three: ordinary train moves with average speed About 80 km / h, while high-speed accelerates to 300 km / h.

Before this trip to Beijing, I was already converted to a Chinese ordinary train, but it was a sedentary car. Ride in a sitting carriage of a conventional Chinese train 14 hours is a very hard test. I hope never to repeat it. No wonder the places in such cars are called "Hard Seat", because it is "tin." Although for short distances the car is quite good.

My past trips in an ordinary Chinese train formed I have an inner fear of traveling to them, but this time, going into a second-class car, and seeing the usual rows of the shelves, I felt calm. The car seemed quite acceptable.

The first difference that rushed into my eyes is the lack of side seats. On my ticket, in the section "Place" there was a figure of 10 and something was addressed to unfamiliar hieroglyphs. I found the compartment, designated as 9/10. The two lower shelves were already occupied by two Chinese, fully wounded with their food reserves, and the beds are their phones, tablets, chargers and jackets.

The men began to grog and poke the fingers upstairs, under the ceiling. Wow! It turns out that why there are no side shops, they turned into third shelves in the compartment, the same as the luggage Russian train.

The third shelf is the most inconvenient in the car. The distance between the ceiling and a bench is so small here that it is impossible to sit on the shelf, even tilting the head. You can only crawl on this shelf, climbing the ladder on the side, from the shelves - only crawling, but to change the position of the body, being on it is quite difficult. Sit down on the lower shops and use the table I failed. The men made it clear that these were their territory. For losers from the second and third shelves from the opposite side of the car, there are folding chairs at the window and a narrow shelf - a pitiful semblance of the table. Over them along the entire car stretch the shelf for baggage.

Side chairs and table

Luggage rack

But I liked the bed: a neat pillow and a soft synthetic blanket. Everything is already distilled. There is no mattress, but without it quite gently, even though the car is called tough.

In the car there are boiling water, as in the Russian train, but I did not find a socket for charging the phone. But quite well solved the problem of toilets, which in Russian trains are always busy.

Here the toilet is always free. And all because their two in one end of the car and washbasins are located in a room separate from them. But the toilet paper here passes is not relying.

Another pleasant difference from Russian trains is convenient transitions between the wagons. Here you can go from one car to another, without even noticing it. In the Russian train, the transitions between the cars are closed by doors and look crazy. There are also merchants for food and all sorts of wagons, only in contrast to Russian chinese sellers Can arrange a real idea to sell some thing.

At night, I noticed the essential inconvenience of the Chinese placenta: the shops here are a little already than from us. There are no shelves on the walls of the first need, they have to keep them right on the bench, it becomes even more closer.

Weigh all the pros and cons of the Chinese molding card in comparison with our, I never reached the conclusion, which one I like more. Probably, it is still better the one in which you are in a nice company, with your friends or just with good fellow travelers.

P.S. I was asked about ticket prices. Prices are approximately the same as we.

Painter rail predator with an elongated rounded face. And although such roads in China are really developing rapidly - nevertheless, most of the ordinary Chinese drive in conventional "slow" trains. And at least half of them are moving by second-class wagons. They are not like our - three-tier and with aisle, and this is a whole road world with their own laws.

Honestly, first I was afraid of the local placentar. It is fairly exciting to plunge into the dense human sea of \u200b\u200ba completely unfamiliar composition. It seemed that everything was packed in poor Chinese and everything was incomprehensible. So in the first expedition almost to the very end I moved or on high-speed trains, or in the coupe. And only before leaving (from Yanani to Beijing) risked for the sake of interest to drive in a placentar. It turned out - quite normal, and not terrible. Yes, there are nuances. But they are overcome.

In the second Chinese expedition with Plocharth, I had to face tightly. I did not have in advance of purchased tickets to most of the route, and much had to decide on the way. There are no tickets for 1-3 days to many directions, except for deposits or mad. It is about as in the USSR: there are many trains, the motion tension is very high, ticket turnover too. Therefore, the reserved sequarters actually cut off - during the movement I had to take advantage of the sixx and save a lot of overnight in hotels. The main thing, try to take down or in the middle. Along the way, I also broke through the template that only Luzers from the lower social layers are moving in the miserable on the placentar. Nothing like this! In the reserved seat ride mostly those who simply did not take the coupe at the checkout. And not those who want to save.

So now I will tell you in pictures of the Chinese placentar.
And how there is its local road world world.

The Chinese reserved seat is not like our: three tiers of shelves and passing with seats

2. Well, let's move to the scented Autumn Island Hainan and at the Khaikou station late in the evening we will sit in the reserved seats to go to Guangzhou?

3. So, the first in the second expedition I got a car number 17 of the train K1168. I took it literally for an hour and a half before the departure, because I was hoping that I could find that I could find straight steam in Guangzhou with overnight. But, having traveled both ports in Haikou, crushed and had to change the plan. The passenger in the train gives this card for the time of the trip. Vagon number (17) and section number in it (13). The section indicates the place of the hieroglyph. I see, as you can see, the lower - t with a screak.

4. The most first thing in the Chinese after the landing is to start eating soon. At 70% is a cock, dashing or something like that. From this in the car after departure there is a specific sharp smell. True, it will quickly disperse from air conditioning and becomes barely caught. But never disappears. Another specific smell that will never turn to the end - the smell of jasmine tea.

5. Quite comfortable in the local placentar is that the owners of the upper shelves can sit on the side sidushka. By default, it is believed that the passengers of the lower shelves do not claim these sids, but they sit on them to those who are above or from the middle. Now is the late hour (our train is loaded on the ferry through the Strait of Qujungzhou), and almost all passengers went to bed, but the day of the seats are almost completely busy.

6. Won, in the window seen seized adjacent wagons. Now from half an hour we shake on the waves.

7. The mode in the deposit is complied with quite strictly. Increased than we. At night, everything literally cuts out, except burning in the dark numbers of sections. So you can sleep fully. In addition, frowning, loud chatting, musitization or enemy in their section at night are very not encouraged: such a process Chinese conductors can be pretty rude, for the rest of the passengers should relax. It is quite a big difference from our orders, we have them liberally.

8. Linen in a placentar is covered in advance, and is always included in the price of the place. Sometimes it turns out that the lingerie "turning": if you sat down on a small intermediate station, it will not be able to translate it without reminding it without reminding you. You can go to the underwear of the previous passenger :) However, when the conductors specifically remind you, come and go immediately. But without reminding nothing will be.

9. An important sign of any section in a reserved seat is a great thermos with "Chinese" boiling water (about 70 degrees.). Without drinking and thermoses, the Chinese cannot exist in general.

10. In this photo, sections are visible, below the window. In the dark, they are glowing red so that the passengers quickly find their own.

11. Pass a second-class car. It is designed to make the truck with the products or man normally and freely pass along the person sitting at the window.

12. The third shelf is high, and it is not quite easy to scramble there.

13. Slap there usually on the side, here for such a ladder.

14. Here the passage is already filled with the people, later the morning and many snacks.

What contingent moves a departure in China?
At first, I thought that these were those who want to save money or someone had no money on the coupe, and even more so on a super-speed train. However, it turned out not so: those who are relatively victory (mostly residents from the province), in a reserved seat no more than a third. The main part of the second-class passengers make up those who simply could not take a ticket to a higher category. That is, the contingent is strongly intersecting with jewelry cars, just in the coupe they ride those who took the ticket or strongly, or caught it over the Internet. Tickets are now sold in China for 20 days, and before (most recently) were only for 10. This is especially true popular destinations Or universal holidays: a ticket for five days is impossible for five days, the demand is so great on them. Because of this, I could not get to Chongqing, who had to miss - and precisely because of the lack of suitable tickets.

So in the placentar you can meet a student of the capital's university, and an engineer from Manchuria, and working and doctors from coastal ports, and a dyed peasant of a deaf province. In a word, a real Solyanka.

What is the reserved sequarters differ from the coupe, except for comfort? Greater freedom of communication.
In principle, the people here are friendly, "Metzov-Zhulikov" (through which a standard opinion of the standard tourics is formed about the Chinese, and they immediately look at the lady with great interest, especially if it goes in the direction of the depths, and not from the major center type Shanghai. For seven of my trips in a placentar, I managed, for example, a very productive to catch the hieroglyphs of food - and I gathered five "fans" in my section in my section, which diligently taught me to pronounce words correctly, and at the same time demonstrated a distinction in pronunciation from different provinces. Or, another time, get a master class of writing hieroglyphs with a handle. There is a whole art - where to start, and how to add screenshots. True, I didn't really remember anything - but nevertheless, it was interesting.

Sometimes there are those who try to impose chat, but usually, with the unwillingness of the interlocutor, it stops quite quickly, the neighbors themselves. Of course, my observation refers to the relationship of "bovine - Chinese", and not to intra-day communication.

15. Since the lingerie in the car is always covered and by default, the Chinese are not particularly bothering the seat on someone else's lingerie, as we have seen there corner there, sat on a naked shelf, so that the type does not soak clothing. The Chinese just jumped, and sat down.

16. Photo Reference in a reserved seat highly It is difficult: the first hour of one and a half you are the subject of universal attention. Then some time for you is observed - the Chinese very unused the fact of lady in a reserved seat. And only approximately after half a day you become part of the interior, you finally get used to you. So I had to be perverted as soon as possible: stealing, with a turning screen and only a small camera. The mirror immediately attracts attention, and naturalness disappears.

17. Passages between the wagons are always open, this is a feature of Chinese trains and I told about them separately.

19. And here is an afternoon and alag. Who was able, descended from the upper shelves and all the seats in the passage are busy.

20. After about every three or four hours, the conductor passes and removes the car. It takes twice: first with a broom, then with a plastic bag for garbage, where everything is thrown by packaging and so on. Otherwise, it is impossible: the Chinese in life are brushed incredibly a lot, and if you constantly do not clean, quickly sneak the entire car by waste. And so - the car remains relatively clean.

21. Drink the Chinese are also a lot, as they eat. Actually, and I also drank a lot there. The nature of food is very promoted by fluid consumption.

22. Passengers have a lot of diverse gadgets, probably more than more than in our placentar in the province (except for the SPB line - MSK). To see a book or a paper newspaper in someone's hands - a huge rarity, basks and large smartphones are mainly reading.

23. Nevertheless, a specific ambush is often found in the placentar - a socket de-energized car. In the coupe followed by this, and there I did not go on this. And here - three times, almost half of their trips. So recharge the devices with nothing, and come to a new city without energy. Rosettes in a reserved seat according to the standard like eight - four paired blocks, through a section.

24. There comes the time of food, and the massive smell of the dochiar with soy sauce :)

25. Upstairs you can see the shelf for the top passengers. She is almost under the ceiling.

26. Washing coupe in the placentar always on 3 places (in the coupe - 2 or 3). Here it is polluted faster - passengers one and a half times more.

About toilets. They are dirty than in the coupe. Sometimes even at the end of the route, they are filled with water (a couple of times it fell).
This, unfortunately, the inconvenience is the placentar. But also depends on the train. If it is category T, then the toilet is clean. If to or below, then alas. But there is I. helpful advice: If the next carriage car, go there. Conductors do not care, and the passage is open around the clock.

28. Three times - four times a day, starting from 9 am, the car rides "nutritious" aunt, with a trolley. Says loudly and Naraspov, and if he heard - then you have time to buy. On the way it is worth taking ready-made hot lunches purchased into the film, or soldered in vacuum packaging. Open pieces of trays are better not to take (I did not risk). There is a complex snack there in the area of \u200b\u200b15-20 yuan (second with meat or chicken, salad, flood). Do not forget to constantly wash your hands, before and after, and in general it is more often.

Hot snacks take about a quarter of the passengers, a quarter is lucky with me (if the train is not from the capital or Shanghai), and approximately half brewing cards with Cuxa (this is the most massive train food in China).

29. Thermosok in hand is almost always. Without thermosham, a chamber of the Chinese is not quite a Chinese :)

30. Chinese trains outside the window. Many manual labor, less small mechanization than us.

31. The problem of protection from the Sun is very interesting. If we went along the path of the cancellation of the curtain, and there is only a complete closing of the window with tight valve, then the Chinese put the shutters on the windows. It is from the sun, but not removing completely light. Approximately half of the reserved seats are also the LCD screens, however, include them only in the evening and steep centralized films. Starting certainly with party-weathered, and further all sorts of tearful melodramas and Kunfa A la Bruce-Lee.

32. The second passage of the wagon conductor with a plastic bag. At a time, approximately a garbage crash, the Chinese are masters.

33. Tea on the road has to drink Chinese, which is brewed at 70-75 degrees. Our large-scale Ceylonsky at that temperature is underwrinking. Honestly, the weeks after three stays there it is terribly like that exactly our tea, and not the flower-herbal aroma of Chinese. Especially inflaming the omnipresent jasmine. I, when I returned home, I could not get drunk with our usual conventional tea :)

34. Chinese-workers from the installation of the LPP. We drove from Sihani somewhere near Beijing. I managed through the tablet and the google-breaker to talk over the guy in the distance, which also stood a translator on the gadget.

35. Salace on the upper shelf, evening. The usual life of the Chinese placentar.

36. Tambour for smoking. With the smell of Jury, there is also an ambush - for the reason that interval transitions are not closed and the tobacco smell squeezes inside the carriage. Therefore, if possible, the first 2 sections do not take, at the wash office. Best of all in the placentar to go closer to the middle.

* * *
In general, it is necessary to say this, for independent travelers: you do not need to be afraid of a placentar in China.
This is a completely adequate type of movement, albeit with its nuances. Did not take a coupe? Take reserved seats. Try to take places down if possible, it turns out almost like a coupe by comfort. Middle - worse. The top is uncomfortable, except for the option "go only night, and in the morning to go." The hieroglyph of the desired place can draw a cashier on a piece of paper, the bottom place is t with a screak on the right, see photo number 3.

Snapshots are made in different expedition flights, I just united them here in one story for the convenience of showing different directions of the trip.

Relatively recently in China launched into operation new train, and our compatriots remain only to envy passengers who go film wagons. Comfortable shelves, designated personal space and most importantly, when moving along the car, one passengers do not hurt the hanging legs of others.

The other day, the "Shanghai Railways" leadership announced the official launch of the high-speed night train, next to Beijing-Shanghai route. Given the huge area of \u200b\u200bChina, there are very popular flights on ultra-dollar routes. The distance along the high-speed highway (SMM) between the two megalopolis is 1318 kilometers, and on the new train, the following time is only 12 hours.

The dimensions of this train has undergone some changes, in particular, the height of the wagons was increased and the bedrooms are modified for passengers. Russian users social networks Already managed to name the cars "placenta", only much more comfortable than domestic analogues.

And indeed, all the shelves are installed in the course of the train movement, unlike the familiar transverse location. Each passenger is clearly indicated by his personal space: regardless of the tier there is a separate window, an adjustable orthopedic back, a table, a lamp and a socket for chargers. But the most convenient thing is that, if desired, any passenger can close from the annoying views of the surrounding tight shirma.

The volume of the new night-distance night train is increased by 37% compared with the size of ordinary passenger compounds. number seating - 880. The developers of this rolling stock reduced vibration and optimized noise reduction. They argue that noise from this moving train is no more than from the car on the track. Given the fact that the composition is on the way at night, its speed is reduced to 250 km / h.

They accelerate to 300 km per hour and allow you to quickly and expensive travel around the country. By the end of 2015, the length of the high-speed railways in China was more than 19,000 km, and by 2020, the Chinese are going to build another 23,000 km (spending 2.8 trillion yuan) and connect all big cities countries.

Last year, the Chinese even offered to pave a high-speed railway to Vladivostok, but this idea was stuck at the negotiation level. Apparently, only their own funds to invest in the corridor for our shuttles, requiring Russian participation, and it is difficult now. By the way, in China itself, that the leadership of the PRC spends on railways A lot of money.

The whole country to cover with local copies of "Siemens" and "Bombardier" is not yet possible. Most Western China, where mostly mountains and deserts, could not conquer yet. In the south, also remained branches that are not duplicated by high-speed. So there is both in China. Ordinary trains with jiggle cars, lace curtains on the windows and tea in the cup holders. At one of these trains, I drove from Dali to Kunming - only 250 km, but the road took 7 hours!

01. Chinese stations are huge multi-storey buildings with offices and shops.

02. Privokzalny Square

03. With parking full of mess, it is impossible to come up with a suitcase.

04. Everything is forced by machines very tight.

05. A policeman's booth on the station Square. So that no one gives the police to the questions, he burled the ribbon.

06. At the station there is a paid waiting room! It is 20 yuan (220 rubles).

07. For this money, boiling water will be hidden for storage.

08. This is what the hall looks like.

09. Camera storage at the station. The cost of storage is 15 yuan (160 rubles) for two suitcases. All things check on the scanner.

10. There are no elevators at the station, instead of this in the middle of the stairs are such ramps, it is impossible to use them.

11. Store

12. You can buy alcohol on the road.

13. Only passengers with tickets are allowed at the station, at the entrance of all they check on the passport and enter the computer, things are shifted, passengers are searched. All as at the airport.