David Feng 🚄

Station expansion.
I don’t always use Yangquan North railway station but I remember it had “just” two platforms: 1 and 2. They’ve since added a part for Platform 3, as well as the all-new platforms 4 and 5. These stations you think are in the middle of nowhere — are growing. #Chunyun

The future of multimodal transport integration. You don’t have to go to Xiongan or Shenzhen for this. The almost under-recognised Yangquan East station in Shanxi has one entrance, one security checkpoint, then you can immediately choose — coaches or trains. It’s that simple. #Chunyun

Shijiazhuang still has a lot of potential. It’s a busy hub but maybe almost not as busy as its full potential. In particular, the east-west 250 km/h line is seeing visibly less trains than the north-south 350 km/h line. #Chunyun

Closing out the first day of #Chunyun with a High Speed service at the double-decker Beijing Fengtai railway station. The rest will be a little fragmented, but here’s what I found of particular note…

Gates 4 and 5 for trains to Central Yangquan. Mine will use Gate 5. #Chunyun

Big waiting room for trains to/from Central Yangquan at Yangquan East, here at Yangquan North station. Delightfully empty — hey, I’m Swiss! I value peace and quiet, actually. 🤣 #Chunyun

Those going to/coming from Yangquan East will use Entrance/Exit 2.
A hint… once you complete Security here go through the entry gates so you get to use the big waiting hall. It’s huge… otherwise you are “stuck” at the ticket hall “only”! #Chunyun

Entrances at Yangquan North… pay close attention!
With very few exceptions, the vast majority of High Speed trains use Entrance/Exit 1 for Platforms 1-3… #Chunyun

Fitting for the lunar new year of the horse they have a horse and rider at the station square of Yangquan North station… #Chunyun

…a new suburban railway route to Central Yangquan. This goes for 36 km taking 28 minutes. Not as fast as High Speed but far more predictable than road traffic, to be honest. #Chunyun

And yes, I will be travelling on THAT for a look at Central Yangquan.

Yangquan, Shanxi! (山西阳泉)
My #Chunyun 1st Day Trip continues…
Yangquan North is its HSR hub. Built in 2009 at a time when HSR was merely been established, local authorities didn’t know what they expected — so they had the rails “dump” the station 40 km out of town. 😂 #BADIDEA
Now they’ve had to add…

The ticket office is now one of these new integrated service centres at Shijiazhuang North. Visible improvement. #Chunyun

In the publicity video you can see clearly the two separate station buildings. They’re only connected inside the paid area. The north building is new. #Chunyun

Passport readers now integrated at the ticket check-in gates too. Big improvement. Thing is, though, they need to accept non-Chinese passports! #Chunyun

What used to be separated waiting halls is now under one roof — and in a BIG hall. Big improvement, Shijiazhuang North. #Chunyun

Just look at that epic ceiling art. Shijiazhuang North… #Chunyun

Big upgrade to the ticket machines at Shijiazhuang North… they now *FINALLY* have a passport reader. However they seem to support merely Chinese passports, certainly for now… #Chunyun

There is futureproofed access here to Shijiazhuang Metro Line 5. Once that opens a few years from now, all of the city’s main rail hubs — Main, North, and East — will be connected by Metro. #Chunyun

It’s not an all-new station — but it looks brand-new… the epic Shijiazhuang North upgrade. #Chunyun

Quick briefing…

Next up: Shijiazhuang North railway station. I hear it’s been redone — big time! #Chunyun

So they’ve converted the old Shijiazhuang railway station into a museum about the takeover of the city by the Communists — something they call “liberation”. The tracks are now all underground as well. At least they’re using the building. #Chunyun

In Switzerland, apparently this word is super dirty in Swiss-German! 😂 So much so that “Fuze Tea” had to be renamed “Fuse Tea”. #Chunyun

Now onto Line 1 of the Shijiazhuang Metro and to Liberation Square station for a look at the old Shijiazhuang railway station… #Chunyun

For sure Shijiazhuang is looking super-festive… #Chunyun

For the all-new #NonstopStations we are already going through 3 stations super-quick…
1. 🇨🇳Beijing West (Rail)
2. 🇨🇳Shijiazhuang (Rail, Metro)
3 🇨🇳Xinbai Square (Metro)
It’s happening super quick. Xinbai Square is where Shijiazhuang Metro Line 3 meets Line 1. #Chunyun

It’s the lunar new year — and Shijiazhuang’s metro system seems to be celebrating this in style! #Chunyun

And it’s straight to the concourse here in the metro bit of Shijiazhuang main station. You get to choose: Line 2 or Line 3 (latter goes straight to the centre of town)… #Chunyun

My foreign permanent residence card for China puts me into #BadMotherfucker Mode — I’m allowed to use this! 😂🤣😂🤣 #Chunyun

By the east exit there’s now a direct access path to the Shijiazhuang Metro station here bypassing extra security checks.
Alas only ID card users can use this (for now). These include mainland ID, Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan residence cards, and PR cards for expats settled in China (moé 🤣)… #Chunyun

This is the city’s new(-ish; late 2012) station. I will if I could squish/squeeze some time to check out the *old* station… let’s see…

First downstairs to the exit… #Chunyun