Beez Neez now Chy Whella - Train to Chengdu

Train to Chengdu

Beez Neez now Chy Whella

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Wed 16 May 2018 22:57

Train Journey from Xi’an to Chengdu

After our tandem ride around the city wall, we raced back to our digs, quick shower and off to Chengdu on the train. On the way we still cannot believe the numbers of blocks of flats in such a small area.

By the station a huge new build and outside a floral prize-winner.

Xi’an Station was massive and very new-looking.

Our ticket, at first glance looked pretty busy. Top right A23 refers to the platform, the station has thirty-four platforms, sixteen island platforms and two side platforms, the largest in northwest China. Back to our ticket, G1975 is the train number. Xi’anbei to Chendudong is the route, followed by the date and the price of 397 Yuan or about forty-six pounds for first-class. We had been warned away from any other class as being incredibly uncomfortable, very noisy and the price difference not a huge amount. Below is some of my Passport number and name on the right, the rest is beyond us. We saw a long queue at the middle doors, so we walked to the far end and found no one before us. Airport-type security for all baggage and an xray machine for passengers.

Incredibly glitzy as we went in search of A23. The station opened in January 2011, it looks as good as new.

I left Bear and bimbled over to the electronic train listing. Looking at the queue at the middle door, so pleased we cam in at the other end.

Looking back toward Bear with our yellow cases.

We found seats and watched the world go by as we had about an hour to wait. The left picture shows A23 and A22. There is a matching pair on the other side of the station called B23 and B22 for the rear of trains coming in. The guard looked quite severe. Queues formed as the train was called fifteen minutes before it was due in, as the train arrived people used the machines to read their ticket or show the guard. Ten minutes and the queue efficiently disappeared down the stairs or the escalator. A few minutes before the train was due to leave the electronic gates automatically locked. The lady sitting on the floor came running in and begged the guard to let her through but no, the gates cannot be unlocked, so she slumped down and stayed there for ages, out of breath, fed up and soon on her mobile, the other lady waiting for our train, quietly ate her late lunch.

We waited until everyone near us moved, through the machine, down the escalator and down to our train.

Sexy enough, but nowhere as sexy as the bullet ladies in Japan.

Settled in our incredibly hard seats, it was weird to see such a deserted set of platforms.

The Xi’an to Chengdu high-speed railway is a dual-track, electrified, high-speed rail line which commenced service last December. The 510-kilometre journey is through Shaanxi and Sichuan Provinces, connecting the two province capitals in less than three hours (the previous train journey took around sixteen hours). Construction began in 2010 and runs parallel to the old line through the rugged Qin and Daba Mountains. We have never been on a train journey that spends so much time in tunnels – 127-kilometres of tunnels – six of them longer than 10 kilometres. The scenery goes from city to countryside and back to city taking in farmland, connecting the Ghanzhong Plains with the Sichuan Basin.

Soon in the outskirts of Xi’an, quite pretty and very tidy.

Out to farmland and several tunnels.

Oh, a digger in a river.

Bear settled to finishing his birthday cake. We were given a tiny snack box with the choice of water or still lemon. No doors were closed and we could see all through the train, not great for noise transfer. The stewards a short distance behind us sounded like they were having a party and we were both thrilled when our opposite neighbour went to sleep, she spent the first hour shouting into her mobile – bring us back to Japan where you are only allowed to text.......but her snores harmonised in duet with a very loud man in front of us.

This journey has been seen us spend more time in tunnels than any other journey, no sooner than the scenery became pretty with mountains than we were shooting at high speed through a tunnel entrance, certainly made our ears smart a bit.

We knew as soon as we were closing in on Chengdu when the closely grouped blocks of flats came into view.

OH MY. But this is a city of thirty-three million, they have to live somewhere..............

After about twenty minutes in a taxi, it was a bit disconcerting when we ended up going down several skinny streets of dubious nature with so many tiny shops and eateries, then we pulled off down down a slope, up a ramp and there we were in front of a fancy building. The entrance was very shiny, reception where nary a smile was seen, ahead a bar and where we were told breakfast would be served in the morning.