All aboard new era at Shanghai South Station

Credit: Jiang Chenqi / Ti Gong

Caption: The first high-speed train leaves Shanghai South Railway Station at 7:01am on Sunday, with the station becoming the 10th high-speed rail station in the city.

With the departure of the first high-speed train, G1305, at 7:01am on Sunday, Shanghai South Railway Station officially ushered in its high-speed rail era.

It now serves as the 10th high-speed railway station in the city, along with other three major stations, Shanghai Station, Shanghai Hongqiao Station, Shanghai Songjiang Station, and six subsidiary stations, Shanghai West Station, Nanxiang North Station, Anting North Station, Anting West Station, Jinshan North Station, and Liantang Station.

The train, which passed through Hangzhou, Huangshan, Nanchang, Ganzhou, Huizhou, and Xintang, with a total journey time of 7 hours and 39 minutes, arrived at Guangzhou East Railway Station at 2:40pm.

From midnight on Sunday, China's Railway Shanghai Group has adopted a new train schedule for the first quarter of the year.

Credit: Sun Mao'en / Ti Gong

Caption: A passenger takes photos at the station before boarding the first train.

After the adjustment, Shanghai South Railway Station plans to operate 118.5 pairs of trains, an increase of 31.7 percent compared with before, running to popular destinations such as Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou Huangshan, Xiamen, Nanchang, Zhengzhou and Changsha. Among them, about 60 percent of the trains are high-speed trains.

Meanwhile, to conform to passengers' travel needs, the station has also retained 11 pairs of regular trains serving to destinations including Chongqing, Wuchang, Nanning, and Guangzhou.

The station has also introduced two Super Loop train services,

The longer route train, G8387, departs from Shanghai South Railway Station and terminates at Shanghai Hongqiao Station, passing through popular tourist areas such as Huzhou, Qiandaohu Lake, Mount Huang, Mount Jiuhua, Lujiang, and Yangcheng Lake, with a total distance of about 1,320 kilometers and a journey time of approximately 8.4 hours.

The other one, G8981, terminates at Shanghai Railway Station, passing through cities such as Suzhou, Huzhou, Xuancheng, and Wuhu, with a total distance of about 770 kilometers and a journey time of approximately five hours.

Additionally, Shanghai South Railway Station also operates 20 pairs of trains to Jinshan District each day.