Railway stations in China - Chinese railway stations lack the 'charm' (and potential terror it can create for a newbies) of Indian railway stations. First of all, ticketing area and 'railway' station is separated - Only those with a valid ticket are allowed entry to the station - there is no concept of platform ticket either !(so out goes the army of well wishers and others!) Then you x-ray the bags and wait in a hall. About 15 minutes prior to the departure of the train the passangers are allowed on the platform. And the 'boarding' closes 3 minutes before the departure!! So no thrills of "caught the running train" ! Every train coach has an assistant - dutifully standing in attention at the door. I guess they can help with small things too – I have not had the opportunity because of language issues :-) On a non-stop train, therefore all intermediate station platforms look empty ! I was bit baffled by that at first. May be this is very similar to western European or american systems - but I saw it for the first time.
(C) - Abhijit Tongaonkar - 2006