Getting to Hangzhou by CHR Train

There are two railway stations in Hangzhou at present: the Hangzhou Railway Station and the Hangzhou South Railway Station. Hangzhou Railway Station is the larger one, which mainly operates trains that arrive at Hangzhou as a terminal station while Hangzhou South Railway Station mainly hosts trains passing through Hangzhou.
 Hangzhou Train Schedule

 Hangzhou Railway Station 
Chinese Name: 杭州火车站 or 杭州城站火车站
Hangzhou Cheng Zhan Railway Station, it is located in the downtown district at 1, Huan Cheng Dong Lu, Shangcheng District. This station was rebuilt and opened to use on December 28th, 1999. It has south and north ticket halls, five ordinary waiting rooms, one soft seats waiting room and seven platforms. The station is mainly supported by the Hu-Kun (Shanghai-Kunming) Railway and the Xuan-Hang (Xuancheng-Hangzhou) Railway. Here, trains connect Hangzhou with over 30 major cities, including bullet trains to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Nanchang, Xiamen, Ningbo, Jinhua, Wenzhou, Yiwu, Cangnan and Quzhou. At present, there are about 105 scheduled trains stopping here daily.

 Buying Train Tickets
The ticket offices are at the passenger exit of the railway station. Here you can buy train tickets 3 days in advance (including the purchasing day) in 24 hours daily. The pre-sale time might be longer during holidays or festivals.

Train tickets can also be purchased at ticket offices around Hangzhou. There are altogether 61 ticket offices in Hangzhou and others around other cities and counties. You can buy tickets here rather than go to the railway station. There is a surcharge of CNY5 per ticket. The main ticket offices are:
Wulinmen Ticket Office: 425 Wu Lin Lu (4 days in advance)
Huan Sha Lu Ticket Office: 147 Huan Sha Lu (4 days in advance)
Wen San Lu Ticket Office: 90 Wen San Lu (near West Bus Station)
Qiu Tao Lu Ticket Office: 568 Qiu Tao Lu (near South Bus Station)
Mo Gan Shan Lu Ticket Office: 340 Mo Gan Shan Lu (near North Bus Station)
Jiubao Ticket Office: 902 Hang Hai Lu (Near Hangzhou Passenger Transport Central Station)

For westerners who are unfamiliar with the Chinese ticket selling system, it is recommended that you buy tickets through a travel agency or hotel, some of which provide this service for an additional charge.

 Shanghai–Hangzhou High Speed Train (Bullet Train)
There are two kinds of bullet trains running between Shanghai and Hangzhou. One has the letter "G" at the beginning of its train number. The number of the other type of bullet train begins with the letter "D". The speed of the G-train is up to 350 km/hr, which enables the train to finish the trip between Shanghai and Hangzhou in 45 to 60 minutes. The speed of the D-train is a little slower taking about 1.5 hours to finish the trip. Everyday, over 100 high-speed trains run between these two cities from early morning at 06:32 to around 21:00.

Ticketing
Currently, there are five ways to purchase the train ticket, which are at the bullet train station, at other railway stations in the city, at ticket offices in the city, through the ticket booking line (95105105) of Shanghai Railway Transport Bureau and at the Ticket Vending Machine in Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station and Hangzhou Railway Station.

Tickets bought at ticket offices in the railway station or in the city are in red and can not pass through the Automatic Ticket Punching Machine in Waiting Hall 5, 6, 7 and 8. The Automatic Ticket Punching Machine is for the blue tickets which are bought at the Ticket Vending Machine. The prices of the tickets are the same.

G-Train tickets from Hangzhou to the Hongqiao Railway Station cost CNY131 for a first-class seat and CNY82 for a second-class seat. The ticket price from Hangzhou to Shanghai Railway Station is CNY156 for a first-class seat and CNY98 for a second-class seat. The ticket price of D-trains has not been changed.

 Hangzhou Railway Station Transportation
Bus Routes: B2, Y2, 3, 7, 11, 21, 39, 49, 88, 95, 116, 156, 188, 210, 222, 225 (Inner Ring), 226 (Outer Ring), 276, 290, 300, 508, 525, 528, 537 (through), 555, 862, 900, Airport Shuttle Bus.
Taxi waiting area: You'll see the taxi sign at the Exit Ticket Gate. Follow the sign and you'll find the taxi waiting line.
Tips:
1. Taxi fare is approximately CNY80-90 to Hangzhou Airport, taking around half an hour.
2. Taxi fare is approx. CNY60 to Hangzhou South Railway Station.
3. Taxi fare is approx.CNY12 to West Lake, taking 10 minutes.

 Hangzhou South Railway Station (Xiaoshan Railway Station)
Chinese Name: 杭州火车南站 or  萧山火车站
This railway station is located in Xiaoshan District. It has taken over the passenger transportation of Hangzhou East Railway Station since Dec. 2009. It supplies trains to 40 cities in China, including 28 bullet trains to Shanghai, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Changsha, Nanchang, Wenzhou, Ningbo Wenzhou and Yiwu.

After reconstruction, the station is oriented south and north. The building on the west side contains waiting rooms and exit. From north to south, they are the Exit, Ticket Hall, North Waiting Room, Bullet Train Waiting Room, Fire Passage and the South Waiting Room. The building on the east side contains Platform 1–5, as well as the Exit Platform Underpass, Entrance Platform Underpass and Entrance Platform Bridge from north to the south.

If your train is heading south, you can wait for your train in the South Waiting Room. Punch your tickets at the No.7–9 Ticket Barriers and get on the train through the Entrance Platform Bridge. If your train is heading north, wait for your train in the North Waiting Room. Punch your ticket at the No.1–5 Ticket Barriers and get on the train through the Entrance Platform Underpass. If you are taking a bullet train, you can wait for your train in the Middle Waiting Room (the former ticket hall) and punch your ticket at the No. 6 Ticket Barrier. The entrance to the Middle Waiting Room is in the south of the North Waiting Room.

When leaving the station, you go through the northernmost Exit Platform Underpass. The Ticket Barrier is at the exit with an Excess Fare Window. Having gone through the Ticket Barrier, you can either take a bus or taxi to leave the station. The Bus Station and the Taxi Parking Area are near the exit.

 Buying Train Tickets
The Ticket Hall is in the north of the station, next to the North Waiting Room. There are altogether 16 ticket windows in the ticket office. Similar to Hangzhou Railway Station, tickets for Hangzhou South Railway Station can be purchased through ticket offices in town as well as travel agencies and hotels.

 Hangzhou South Railway Station Transportation
Bus: 300, 301, 328, K362, 537 (Through), 537, 652, K700, K706, K711, K726, K743, K747
Taxi: There are two taxi waiting alleys at Hangzhou South Railway Station. One is for passengers to downtown Hangzhou and Hangzhou International Airport, and the other one is for passengers to downtown Xiaoshan and other directions, except Hangzhou Airport. Please pay attention to the signs on the square in front of the railway station.
Tips:
1. Taxi fare costs about CNY60 to Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport.
2. Taxi fare costs about CNY50 to the city center of Hangzhou.

 Hangzhou East Railway Station 
Chinese Name: 杭州火车东站
Closed for reconstruction: Dec 2009~the end of 2011
This station is situated in the east area of Hangzhou City. Before the reconstruction project, trains here provided service to and from nearly 40 Chinese cities including Shanghai, Sanya, Nanjing, Yiwu, Ningbo and Suzhou.
Address: Tiancheng Road, Hangzhou City
Bus Routes: 48, 302, 805, 818, 864, 20, K20, 20, 28, K28, 31, K31, 317, K317, 33, K33, 355, K355, 43, K43, K105, K106, K179, K189, K215, K228, K273, K304, K320, K516, K518, K618, K677, Y5, Y7
 Recommended Nearby Hotels: Elan Inn (East Railway Station), Hangzhou (Comfort Inn)

 Tips:
1. When arriving at Hangzhou, follow the stream of people to get out of the station. The taxi waiting points are at the first level.
2. Whether you are leaving for or from Hangzhou railway station by taxi, you should ask the taxi driver to charge according to the meter before taking the taxi. Otherwise, you can refuse to take his taxi and change to another one because the fare asked for is always much higher than the actual (meter) price. This situation often happens at the railway station.
3. For passengers taking trains at either of Hangzhou's railway stations, you must arrive at the railway station 30 minutes in advance. If you are going to Hangzhou South Railway Station, it is recommended to leave early since it is far away from downtown.