China high speed rail

[elvintay07]

hi everyone

I intend to take high speed rail from hangzhou to shanghai. Any idea whether tourists can purchase the ticket online and whether we need to collect ticket in advance? The last round I went (pre covid) was chaotic. Need to queue at the ticket counter for 30 min and kana cut queue by all the jokers. Is there improvement now?

 

[Moguls]

dl 12306 APP, you need to verify your china telco number first before you can buy from 12306
Book your train tickets early and before hand. login to 12306 and select the preferred destination.
Select those trains with Alphabets "G" means high speed about 250km/hr and pay using tourist Alipay
use your passport to check-in. no physical ticket is needed.
Note business class seats is always located at 1st cabin.

 

[rrr2015]

dl 12306 APP, you need to verify your china telco number first before you can buy from 12306
Book your train tickets early and before hand. login to 12306 and select the preferred destination.
Select those trains with Alphabets "G" means high speed about 250km/hr and pay using tourist Alipay
use your passport to check-in. no physical ticket is needed.
Note business class seats is always located at 1st cabin.

i read 12306 website is time limited & works only from 11:30pm ~ 5am. does that applies to APP as well?

 

[beanstalk6]

hi everyone

I intend to take high speed rail from hangzhou to shanghai. Any idea whether tourists can purchase the ticket online and whether we need to collect ticket in advance? The last round I went (pre covid) was chaotic. Need to queue at the ticket counter for 30 min and kana cut queue by all the jokers. Is there improvement now?

Read the other thread https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/beijing-and-shanghai-for-11-days.6955385/page-3. Apparently, there is no need to collect your ticket at the counter.

i read 12306 website is time limited & works only from 11:30pm ~ 5am. does that applies to APP as well?

If it only opens from 11:30pm to 5am, what a bummer, isnt it? Less than 6 hours of operations?
More accurately， daily 5:00to23:30.

 

[rrr2015]

If it only opens from 11:30pm to 5am, what a bummer, isnt it? Less than 6 hours of operations?
More accurately， daily 5:00to23:30.

that's what i read from somewhere & find it strange way to operate

after checking 12305 faq
https://www.12306.cn/en/faq.html
The 12306.cn website provides information query and ticket refund services 24 hours a day, and the ticket sales and endorsement services from 5:00 to 1:00 the next day (5:00 to 23:30 on Tuesday).

i tried query, tells me server busy pls try again

 

[brentc]

hi everyone

I intend to take high speed rail from hangzhou to shanghai. Any idea whether tourists can purchase the ticket online and whether we need to collect ticket in advance? The last round I went (pre covid) was chaotic. Need to queue at the ticket counter for 30 min and kana cut queue by all the jokers. Is there improvement now?

just use download trip.com and buy from there (in SGD), but the choice could be lesser as compare to the Railw ay 12306 app

 

[elvintay07]

Someone mentioned going to the manual gate to keep in the system. What is that huh?

 

[Moguls]

Someone mentioned going to the manual gate to keep in the system. What is that huh?

For high speed trains boarding, you must use the manual gate there is a female officer to help you scan your passport. Don’t join the wrong queue for Chinese locals, their ID scanners is different from foreigners passport scanners

 

[Jonathan_Tan]

Normally the manual gate is the extreme left or right of the Gates at the door that you are going thru. just look for a staff who is standing by the gantry and take the queue there...https://images.app.goo.gl/j8MfZh9dvRfYYXrn6

 

[beanstalk6]

that's what i read from somewhere & find it strange way to operate

after checking 12305 faq
https://www.12306.cn/en/faq.html
The 12306.cn website provides information query and ticket refund services 24 hours a day, and the ticket sales and endorsement services from 5:00 to 1:00 the next day (5:00 to 23:30 on Tuesday).

i tried query, tells me server busy pls try again

The server is frequently busy in the evening.

just use download trip.com and buy from there (in SGD), but the choice could be lesser as compare to the Railw ay 12306 app

The choice is more because they take advance sales before the 12306 only puts up the schedule up 2 weeks before the departure date. In fact, trains may not show up on 12306 when the time comes and in which case, trip.com will refund on your booking.

 

[seanysp]

Someone mentioned going to the manual gate to keep in the system. What is that huh?

locals scan ic can board already
foreigners passport have to go to manned gate for them to key in passport details manually
at the far left or far right of your boarding hall depending on which train station

 

[elvintay07]

locals scan ic can board already
foreigners passport have to go to manned gate for them to key in passport details manually
at the far left or far right of your boarding hall depending on which train station

Because from what I understand, got this departure gate. So each gate has their own manual gate right?

The last round I went in 2019, I queue to collect my ticket till my train never left. Haha

 

[seanysp]

Because from what I understand, got this departure gate. So each gate has their own manual gate right?

The last round I went in 2019, I queue to collect my ticket till my train never left. Haha

yup, had the same experience as you in harbin back in jan 2020 when i didnt know anything
now i just arrive at train station 15mins before departure and slowly make my way to board
take note the boarding stops 5mins before departure

some smaller cities who dont deal much with foreigners i actually had to tell them what option to press on their system but large touristy cities the staff are very familiar

 

[bombshell]

If buy from Trip.com, is it an easy process?

 

[beanstalk6]

If I buy from Trip.com, is it an easy process?

Yes, try it out for yourself.

 

[Innocuous*]

If buy from Trip.com, is it an easy process?

Very straightforward for me and ticket was confirmed within minutes for Hangzhou to Shanghai ticket last Sunday evening. But I paid a S$4 fee to Trip.com for a S$21.83 ticket. Do buy your ticket early as I only bought my ticket at around 7pm and the earliest departure was close to 10pm.

 

[bombshell]

Very straightforward for me and ticket was confirmed within minutes for Hangzhou to Shanghai ticket last Sunday evening. But I paid a S$4 fee to Trip.com for a S$21.83 ticket. Do buy your ticket early as I only bought my ticket at around 7pm and the earliest departure was close to 10pm.

When going through the gate need to queue at counter to check passport or can just scan and go like the locals?

 

[natas]

When going through the gate need to queue at counter to check passport or can just scan and go like the locals?

Google mentioned "queue n check passport"

 

[Innocuous*]

When going through the gate need to queue at counter to check passport or can just scan and go like the locals?

Scan passport to enter. No issue at Hangzhou side. When I arrived at Shanghai, only designated gate manned by staff could scan passport. I tried other gates to scan but were prompted with error message. Locals who scan their id card could use any gate.

 

[brentc]

When going through the gate need to queue at counter to check passport or can just scan and go like the locals?

i would normally go through the manual counter/gate with your passport scan, and is quite fast.