For travelers in Shanghai, spontaneous rail trips are becoming easier to pull off.

From January 26, China's new national rail timetable comes into effect, and Shanghai will be among the cities with most visible changes.

A late plan to head to Hong Kong? There are now up to three services to choose from. A last-minute business trip to Beijing? Two additional pairs of express trains are making tight schedules easier to manage.

Craving charcoal-grilled oysters in Guangdong's Zhanjiang, spicy snacks in Henan's Luohe, or a trip to the Hukou Waterfall in Shaanxi's Yan'an? For the first time, direct high-speed trains are making those ideas easier to act on.

From 1 to 3: Shanghai-Hong Kong gets easier to plan

Shanghai and Hong Kong are about 1,296 kilometers apart – hardly neighbors. For years, the real constraint was not distance but having just one train a day to work with.

Under the new schedule, that changes. Direct services between the two cities will expand from one to three, including an overnight sleeper option.

One of the new services, G384, will depart Shanghai Hongqiao at 8:47am daily, reaching Hong Kong West Kowloon in 9 hours and 5 minutes.

Another, the overnight G895 sleeper, will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, leaving Hongqiao at 8:15pm and arriving in Hong Kong at 7:25am the next morning – a timing that lets travellers save a hotel night and step straight into work or sightseeing after breakfast.

The existing Shanghai-Hong Kong service, formerly numbered G99, will be renumbered G901, with its schedule unchanged.

More express services on Shanghai-Beijing line

The same logic is shaping changes on the Shanghai-Beijing line, the busiest high-speed rail line in the country.

Under the new timetable, the number of limited-stop express services – favored by business travellers for their shorter travel times – will increase by two additional pairs.

The change also widens the daily service window, with the first express leaving 17 minutes earlier at 6:43am and the last train running 33 minutes later at 7:25pm.

The G25 train will become the fastest option on this route. It will only make a stop at Nanjing South, cutting the travel time to approximately 4 hours and 18 minutes. The current schedule includes five intermediate stops between Shanghai and Beijing, with the entire journey taking 4 hours and 54 minutes.

New direct routes open up Yan'an, Luohe and Zhanjiang

Beyond the major corridors, the new timetable is also opening up new destinations. Yan'an, Luohe and Zhanjiang will, for the first time, be connected to Shanghai by direct high-speed rail.

Yan'an is best known as a landmark in modern Chinese revolutionary history, but it also offers striking natural scenery, including the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River – often described as the river's most dramatic sight.

Luohe and Zhanjiang speak to a different instinct altogether: food.

Luohe proudly calls itself China's "snack capital," home to major packaged-food brands such as Shuanghui, known for its ham sausages, and Weilong, famous for its spicy snack strips, known in Chinese as latiao.

Zhanjiang, at the southern tip of Chinese mainland, is a coastal city celebrated for seafood – especially its charcoal-grilled oysters. Younger travelers may also recognize it as one of the filming locations for the hit Chinese drama "The Bad Kids."

The update also upgrades several long-distance services from Shanghai to cities such as Shenzhen, Chongqing, Changsha and Wuhan, replacing older conventional trains with modern sleeper coaches designed for greater comfort and efficiency.

Rail authorities say they will continue to monitor operations after the new timetable takes effect and fine-tune services based on passenger demand.