Shenzhen passengers can take a direct train to Tianjin starting Wednesday, when the new national train operation schedule takes effect.
The train, G306/5, departs from West Kowloon at 9:48 a.m. and arrives in Shenzhen at 10:06 a.m. It leaves Shenzhen at 10:10 a.m. and arrives at Tianjin West Station at 7:47 p.m. The trip between Shenzhen and Tianjin is 9 hours and 37 minutes, sources from Shenzhen North Railway Station said.
Under the new schedule, Shenzhen passengers can reach the capital cities of 18 provinces and autonomous regions, while trains departing from Hong Kong and Shenzhen can reach 58 other mainland cities.
Shenzhen North Railway Station will operate 369 pairs of trains including 235 pairs on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong rail and 134 pairs on the Shenzhen-Hangzhou rail. During the two-month summer transport season that starts July 1, the railway station will add 10 pairs of unscheduled trains between Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chaoshan, Puning, Lufeng and Shantou, to the regularly scheduled trains.
The operator estimates the travel peaks will run until July 20, and from Aug. 20 to 31, driven up by students on holiday.
During the summer travel season, the railway station will operate 330 pairs of trains a day to accomodate the additional students and travelers. The station estimates it will handle 18.8 million passengers during the two months.