China high speed rail

[rrr2015]

What kind of help.

like i saw one SG despite carefully setup everything in SG still can't make any payments or booking when in China. fortunately he got friend in China

 

[elvintay07]

like i saw one SG despite carefully setup everything in SG still can't make any payments or booking when in China. fortunately he got friend in China

I thought can take credit card for the train website?

 

[rrr2015]

I thought can take credit card for the train website?

IDK that's why initial setup must have someone to guide u

 

[beanstalk6]

So far Trip.com never fails me when buying HSR. Purchase/ Refund pretty fast. 铁路12306 requires China mobile no to register for an account iirc. The interface is also quite bad.

Same here. I have also been fortunate when they helped me to queue for advance tickets, even during CNY.

 

[osimese]

I dun think need china number cos I just register 12306 from playstore using my gmail last month. payment by wechat.

 

[elvintay07]

Lately I tried paying with WeChat and it doesn’t work. Heng Alipay works

 

[nutswonderer]

I dun think need china number cos I just register 12306 from playstore using my gmail last month. payment by wechat.

yah no need china number ... just used gmail

 

[jywy2005]

Lately I tried paying with WeChat and it doesn’t work. Heng Alipay works

I also have this problem.

Anyone tried to upload passport photo and photo holding passport to reserve tickets?

This platform super buggy.. also auto close

 

[elvintay07]

I also have this problem.

Anyone tried to upload passport photo and photo holding passport to reserve tickets?

This platform super buggy.. also auto close

Yes. Super buggy. It works but take some time. Also not sure when the ticket is realised daily, DeepSeek said 2pm but when I went in at 12pm, all the sun tickets are wiped out. Scary

 

[hfngshnll]

Anyone tried to upload passport photo and photo holding passport to reserve tickets?

This platform super buggy.. also auto close

earlier this year, i had to do the above when booking a ticket, first time required to do this after using the 12306 app for about 1.5 years. previously i had no problem booking tickets from singapore before flying there. not sure if it was because of the time gap i had not done any booking on the app ?

because of this extra step required, i lost the chance to get tickets for the overnight train 4 soft bed cabins. as i could literally see the avail tickets go to zero in the first minutes. had to book the more expensive 2 bed cabin. this unexpected extra step foiled my carefully planned booking process as i knew this was a hot route with the beds cabin being sold out fast. lol.

edit: there was a problem when the app tried to use my phone camera to capture. i bypassed the app using my camera, and separately used my phone camera to capture myself holding passport and then uploaded that photo.

 

[hfngshnll]

Yes. Super buggy. It works but take some time. Also not sure when the ticket is realised daily, DeepSeek said 2pm but when I went in at 12pm, all the sun tickets are wiped out. Scary

the tickets are released between 0800-1800 hrs depending on the train stations. even in the same city, different train stations may release tickets at different times.

pictures below taken from my 12306 app :

 

[elvintay07]

So for foreigners, we will go to the manual stations? What time will gate open prior to departure time?

 

[jywy2005]

So for foreigners, we will go to the manual stations? What time will gate open prior to departure time?

The manual gate will open 15 minutes before departure time. A lot of passengers will queue up 10 min before gate opens.

 

[jywy2005]

earlier this year, i had to do the above when booking a ticket, first time required to do this after using the 12306 app for about 1.5 years. previously i had no problem booking tickets from singapore before flying there. not sure if it was because of the time gap i had not done any booking on the app ?

because of this extra step required, i lost the chance to get tickets for the overnight train 4 soft bed cabins. as i could literally see the avail tickets go to zero in the first minutes. had to book the more expensive 2 bed cabin. this unexpected extra step foiled my carefully planned booking process as i knew this was a hot route with the beds cabin being sold out fast. lol.

edit: there was a problem when the app tried to use my phone camera to capture. i bypassed the app using my camera, and separately used my phone camera to capture myself holding passport and then uploaded that photo.

Pre-Covid time, I dun remember having to go through the steps.Noticed that their train tickets are sold out very quickly even on week days.

After completing the process, are you able to 抢票？So far I managed to book tickets at the last minute, like the night before. I feel uneasy doing the above verification due to data privacy. Not sure worth going through this step.

 

[LWZ]

So for foreigners, we will go to the manual stations? What time will gate open prior to departure time?

The manual gate will open 15 minutes before departure time. A lot of passengers will queue up 10 min before gate opens.

Yes, this was my experience today. Held up the queue with my passport, but such is life

 

[elvintay07]

I presume manual queue is just for non PRC right? So mostly foreigners. So to be safe, we should reach railway station 1 hour before train departure then clear customs and also just nice take the train?

Yes, this was my experience today. Held up the queue with my passport, but such is life

 

[LWZ]

I presume manual queue is just for non PRC right? So mostly foreigners. So to be safe, we should reach railway station 1 hour before train departure then clear customs and also just nice take the train?

Nope... lots of locals went through the staffed counters too, with their ID, but they clear fast.

1 hour before is fine. I only had to go through one security check (similar to Chinese subway) before going to the gate at all the stations I have been to. The gate opens 15-20 mins before departure.

 

[natas]

I presume manual queue is just for non PRC right? So mostly foreigners. So to be safe, we should reach railway station 1 hour before train departure then clear customs and also just nice take the train?

SOP, whichever has short queue, da ma will rush for it. Foreigner only option is manual clearance, hopefully it changes after my last experience in Kunming.

 

[elvintay07]

the tickets are released between 0800-1800 hrs depending on the train stations. even in the same city, different train stations may release tickets at different times.

pictures below taken from my 12306 app :

my app doesn’t have this page. Trying to book huanglongjiuzhan tickets back to Chengdu but can’t tell what time it opens

 

[hfngshnll]

Pre-Covid time, I dun remember having to go through the steps.Noticed that their train tickets are sold out very quickly even on week days.

After completing the process, are you able to 抢票？So far I managed to book tickets at the last minute, like the night before. I feel uneasy doing the above verification due to data privacy. Not sure worth going through this step.

during the initial app install & signup, i went thru this process once, passport scan & face verified, plus my alipay and wechat account links where they message to me about my impending trips, i think that is how i got the "已实名认证“ green tick on my profile ?

this time after i submitted the 2 pictures, it passed their re-verify checks and i proceeded to buy my ticket, of course after fumbling for about 10 minutes, my desired tickets already sold out, lol. had to buy the more expensive 2 bed cabin ticket. within the following week, i was able to buy 2 more different route tickets in advance normally, as per previously, no more re-verify process.

in the past 1 year plus, i had been buying tickets in advance, without this additional step. 1st time encountered this for me.