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The world's largest high-speed network, the plateau sleepers that climb to Tibet, and the slow trains that still serve mountain villages.
Chinese rail travel splits by pace. A high-speed corridor is a booked seat between two cities in a few hours. A plateau sleeper is a two-day crossing at altitude. A slow train is an ordinary local service that happens to run through spectacular country.
Every journey here records the operator's own published route, reservation rules and season.
18 published journeys · 3 groupings
Featured journeys
Yunnan to the Mekong on a brand-new cross-border railway
9h 34m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: Julia Denton-Barker · CC BY-SA 2.0
The longest run in China: 4,372 km and two nights to Tibet
45h 03m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
A suburban train to the Great Wall, through the spring blossom
1h 30m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0
11 journeys
The national grid, by city pair.
Into the north-east, on a line built for deep winter
4h 52m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
Two imperial capitals, joined at 300 km/h
4h 19m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
Sichuan to Yunnan across the mountains of the south-west
7h 30m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: 来斤小仓鼠吧 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Mainland high-speed rail into central Kowloon
47m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: 20001 · CC BY 4.0
Karst country between Guizhou and the delta
4h · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
High-speed rail along the Hexi Corridor
11h 30m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: Liuxingy · CC BY-SA 4.0
The easiest day trip on the Chinese network
45m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
Through the Qinling mountains, mostly in tunnel
4h 07m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
North China to the Pearl River Delta, all of it at 350 km/h
7h 48m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0
1,318 km between China's two great cities at 350 km/h
4h 18m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: MNXANL / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
308 km across the Sichuan basin in about an hour
1h · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: Dingli35 · CC BY-SA 4.0
3 journeys
Multi-night crossings, including the railways to Lhasa.
The longest run in China: 4,372 km and two nights to Tibet
45h 03m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
AI-generated editorial illustration by Rail Atlas
Two nights from the capital to the Tibetan plateau
39h 58m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: xue siyang (df45086) · CC BY-SA 3.0
The highest railway in the world, across the Tibetan plateau
20h 26m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: Windmemories / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
4 journeys
Ordinary services kept for the communities and the scenery along them.
Yunnan to the Mekong on a brand-new cross-border railway
9h 34m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: Julia Denton-Barker · CC BY-SA 2.0
A suburban train to the Great Wall, through the spring blossom
1h 30m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: N509FZ · CC BY-SA 4.0
Across the Yunnan plateau to Erhai lake
1h 48m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: SS3-8057 · CC BY 4.0
China's cheapest long ride, through the Daliang mountains
9h 18m · China State Railway Group (China Railway)
Photo: Saigyouji-Noriko · CC BY-SA 4.0
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