Shanghai South Railway Station 上海南站

This wasn’t my first time at the Shanghai South Railway Station. I was at this very place just the previous year but under different circumstances. In this case, I was just starting my trip but with companions. I was serving as the tour guide this time since I have already been here the previous time. However, it seemed some things have changed. We still took the Shanghai Metro Line 2 to the Hongqiao Railway Station 虹桥火车站, but it was somehow different this time around.

The previous year, I purchased my tickets at the departure hall, where the waiting area was. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. It has been moved to the floor below, where the shops are. It was just as well, since there will be less crowding on the departure hall. I remember purchasing tickets from an automated kiosk, we tried using them but for some reason it won’t work. There was a lady who kept insisting on butting in as we tried to figure out what was wrong. We thought she was another one of those touts who would push us to buy train tickets from her. As it turned out, she was working there and she was the real thing.

There were changes made that anyone who would purchase high speed rail tickets would need an identification card to complete the purchase. In an automated kiosk, there will be a scanner to detect the identity of the person. However, for foreigners, it won’t work. We had to queue up at the counter to purchase tickets like the rest of the people. For some reason they don’t seem to use the automated kiosk as it is much more convenient. We theorized that this is to prevent wholesale purchasing of train seats which would then be sold at a higher price. Anyway, they scanned our passports and we got our tickets, then it was on to the departure hall.

My friends mouths were agape when they saw the massive departure hall of the Shanghai South Railway Station. I keep telling them that it was like an airport terminal and I wasn’t kidding. Now they believe me. We managed to find some seats near our gate. It was still crowded but not as bad as the ordinary train stations. There seemed to be more shops now at the departure area, it reminds me of duty free shopping at an airport.

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