Fare of passenger trains in China

The China Railway use a single fare structure across the country. The ticket price is established by the rate-making distance (运价里程), which usually equals to the actual rail distance.

CRH trains[]

The CRH trains' fare was introduced on April 18, 2007.

Seat[]

There are three types of seats on CRH trains: deluxe, first, and second; The deluxe-class only found on CRH3C and CRH380 trains.

200–250 km/h trains

• Second class: ¥0.2805/km × 1.1 × rate-making distance + Insurance
• First class: ¥0.2805/km × 1.1 × 1.2 × rate-making distance + Insurance
• Insurance (required): ¥0.05861/km × rate-making distance × 0.02

Some CRH trains run on conventional low-speed tracks have special discount. Some long distance train's second-class seat equals to a hard sleeper of the same distance when it is more expensive.

Sleeper[]

There are two types of sleepers on CRH trains: normal sleeper or deluxe sleeper; The deluxe-class only found on CRH1E trains. Each type of sleeper has upper or lower options.

The fare of a sleeper CRH train follows the formula:

• Upper berth: ¥0.3366/km × 1.1 × 1.6 × rate-making distance + Insurance^[1]
• Lower berth: ¥0.3366/km × 1.1 × 1.8 × rate-making distance + Insurance
• Deluxe upper berth: ¥0.3366/km × 1.1 × 3.2 × rate-making distance + Insurance^[2]
• Deluxe lower berth: ¥0.3366/km × 1.1 × 3.6 × rate-making distance + Insurance
• Insurance (required): ¥0.05861/km × rate-making distance × 0.02

Some train has special discount, for example, the sleeper train between Beijing and Shanghai provides 25% discount to the price above. For example, the train D301 from Beijing to Shanghai (rate-making distance = 1463 km), the price is calculated as:

• Upper berth: round_to_¥5((¥0.3366/km × 1.1 × 1.6 × 1463 km + ¥0.05861/km × 1463 km × 0.02) × 0.75) = ¥655
• Lower berth: round_to_¥5((¥0.3366/km × 1.1 × 1.8 × 1463 km + ¥0.05861/km × 1463 km × 0.02) × 0.75) = ¥730

Conventional trains[]

For conventional trains, the fare basis has changed several times in history. The last time it changed was on October 1, 1995, when it was changed to ¥0.05861 per kilometer. The fare vary by trains' speed, air-conditioning, and travel class (seat or sleeper).

A train ticket is composed by passenger ticket, speed-up ticket, air-conditioning ticket, sleeper ticket, insurance and others.

Passenger ticket with insurance

There are two different of passenger tickets: hard and soft. A hard-seat or hard-sleeper ticket requires a hard passenger ticket, while a soft-seat, soft-sleeper or deluxe-soft-sleeper ticket requires a soft passenger ticket.

The fare of a hard passenger ticket equals to the fare basis (¥0.05861 per kilometer). The fare of a soft passenger ticket is double. And if the distance is shorter than 20 km, 20 km is charged.

Insurance of 2% of a hard seat fare, or ¥0.0011722/km, is required for every passenger. The final price of a passenger ticket with insurance is calculated as:

• Hard: round_to_¥1(¥0.05861/km × rate-making distance + ceil_to_¥0.1(¥0.05861/km × 2% × rate-making distance))
• Soft: round_to_¥1(¥0.11722/km × rate-making distance + ceil_to_¥0.1(¥0.05861/km × 2% × rate-making distance))

Speed-up ticket

There are three classes by speed:

• Normal passenger (普客), trains numbered from 6001 to 8998
  • No speed-up ticket is required for this class
• Normal fast (普快), trains numbered from 1001 to 5998
  • Fare of speed-up ticket is 20% of fare basis (¥0.011722 per kilometer) for this class
• Fast (快速) / Express (特快), trains prefixed with letter K, T, or Z
  • Fare of speed-up ticket is 40% of fare basis (¥0.023444 per kilometer) for this class

If the distance is shorter than 100 km, 100 km is charged. The price of a speed-up ticket is rounded to ¥1.

Air-conditioning ticket

Fare of an air-conditioning ticket equals to 25% of fare basis, or ¥0.0146525 per kilometer.

If a train has an air-conditioning system, air-conditioning ticket is required. As of 2009, almost all trains have a "new-type" air-conditioning system, that the air-conditioning system is centralized powered by locomotive or special power generation (KD) car. The price of passenger with insurance, sleeper-up, air-conditioning and sleeper tickets of a train with "new-type" air-conditioning system is 50% higher than normal trains, or 80% higher if it is a deluxe sleeper.

The price of an air-conditioning ticket is rounded to ¥1.

Sleeper ticket

• Soft upper berth: ¥0.1025675/km
• Soft lower berth: ¥0.1142895/km
• Deluxe soft upper berth: ¥0.123081/km
• Deluxe soft lower berth: ¥0.134803/km

Any sleeper ticket is charged an extra ¥10.00 than the above formulas. If the distance is shorter than 400 km, 400 km is charged. The price of a sleeper ticket is rounded to ¥1.

Rounded to ¥1.00.

About rate-making distance

The rate-making distance is rounded up using the following rules:

• 1 km – 200 km: ceil(distance ÷ 10) * 10 - 5
• 201 km – 400 km: ceil(distance ÷ 20) * 20 - 10
• 401 km – 700 km: ceil(distance ÷ 30) * 30 - 15
• 701 km – 1100 km: ceil(distance ÷ 40) * 40 - 20
• 1101 km – 1600 km: ceil(distance ÷ 50) * 50 - 25
• 1601 km – 2200 km: ceil(distance ÷ 60) * 60 - 30
• 2201 km – 2900 km: ceil(distance ÷ 70) * 70 - 35
• 2901 km – 3700 km: ceil(distance ÷ 80) * 80 - 40
• 3701 km – 4600 km: ceil(distance ÷ 90) * 90 - 45
• 4601 km —: ceil(distance ÷ 100) * 100 - 50

For example, the rate-making distance between Beijing and Shanghai is 1463 km, the distance value 1475 km used to calculate the price.

About long-distance discount

For above prices and trip longer or equals to 201 km, the following discount rule is applied:

• 201st km – 500th km section: 90%
• 501st km – 1000th km section: 80%
• 1001st km – 1500th km section: 70%
• 1501st km – 2500th km section: 60%
• 2501st km and above section: 50%

Ticketing system development extra charge

For ticket price less than or equal to ¥5.00, ¥1.00 is added, or ¥0.50 is added. For hard-class travels ≥ 200 km, train station air-conditioning fee ¥1.00 is charged.

For example, for the “new-type air-conditioning normal-fast” train 1363 from Beijing West to Zhengzhou (rate-making distance=689 km), so 685 km is used according to the rule above, the upper berth price is calculated as:

• Passenger ticket and insurance:
  • First 200 km: ¥0.11722/km * 200 km = ¥23.444
  • 201st km – 500th km: ¥0.11722/km * 300 km * 90% = ¥31.6494
  • 501st km – 685th km: ¥0.11722/km * 185 km * 80% = ¥17.34856
  • Insurance: ceil_¥0.10(¥23.444+¥31.6494+¥17.34856)*1%)=¥0.80
  • Total passenger ticket price: round(¥23.444+¥31.6494+¥17.34856+¥0.80)=¥73
• Speed up ticket:
  • First 200 km: ¥0.011722/km * 200 km = ¥2.3444
  • 201st km – 500th km: ¥0.011722/km * 300 km * 90% = ¥3.16494
  • 501st km – 685th km: ¥0.011722/km * 185 km * 80% = ¥1.734856
  • Total speed up ticket price: round(¥2.3444+¥3.16494+¥1.734856)=¥7
• Air-conditioning ticket:
  • First 200 km: ¥0.0146525/km * 200 km = ¥2.9305
  • 201st km – 500th km: ¥0.0146525/km * 300 km * 90% = ¥3.956175
  • 501st km ��� 685th km: ¥0.0146525/km * 185 km * 80% = ¥2.16857
  • Total air-conditioning ticket price: round(¥2.9305+¥3.956175+¥2.16857)=¥9
• Sleeper ticket:
  • First 200 km: ¥0.1025675/km * 200 km = ¥20.5135
  • 201st km – 500th km: ¥0.1025675/km * 300 km * 90% = ¥27.693225
  • 501st km – 685th km: ¥0.1025675/km * 185 km * 80% = ¥15.17999
  • Total air-conditioning ticket price: round(¥20.5135+¥27.693225 +¥15.17999)+¥10=¥73
• Ticketing system development extra charge: ¥1
• Total price: round(¥73*150%)+round(¥7*150%)+round(¥9*150%)+(round((¥73-¥10)*150%)+¥10)+¥1=¥241

References[]