How to buy train ticket in china

The most convenient way to travel inside China is by train. In China, train is fast, cheap and convenient. When sitting on the train, you can also enjoy the beautiful view outside the window and observe this country closer.

There are two types of trains in China. The old train is slow and old in facilities. In resent years, China has built a lot of high-speed train routes. Traveling by high-speed train changes the distance between Chinese cities. Take the high-speed train between Beijing and Shanghai as an example. It takes the old train about 12 hours for this 1463 km journey. For high-speed train, it only takes around 5 hours.

The old style Chines train

For the old train, you can choose the 硬座 (hard seat ticket) or the 卧铺 (sleep ticket). For short journey, the hard seat ticket is still acceptable, but for long journey I highly recommend the sleep ticket. It is so much more comfortable. Here are the pictures of how they look like:

The high speed train is way more comfortable but also more expensive than the old train (compared with the ticket price in many Western countries, it is still quite resonable). Here are pictures of the high-speed train:

Second class seat First class seat

However, for many foreigner travelers, buying a train ticket in China is not easy. The staffs at the ticket window usually don’t speak English. Even when they speak some English, the long line in front of the ticket window can also be disappointing. There are also ticket machines at train stations. However, you can use it only if you hold a Chinese ID card. That’s because the train tickets in China is like airplane ticket, you have to buy it with your valid ID document. You need to scan the Chinese ID card to purchase tickets on those machines. Hence I’m going to show you how to order train ticket online and make your travel in China easier.

Over-crowded ticket window during the Chinese New Year

There is only one official ticket website for train ticket, which is: www.12306.cn.You may see websites or agents claim that they can order tickets for you. But there is a chance it’s fake. When you open the page, it looks like this:

Unfortunately, there is no English version of this website. But with the help of Google Translate, you can translate the page into your native language in a understandable manner. For the first timer, you need to click the register button. And you'll be led to this following page (I used Google translate to translate this page):

Follow the instruction and fill in all the information. Once you registered, you can go back to the home page and click "Ticket" button. Here you can type in the name of the stations and date and hit the orange button.

Once you choose the train you need, you need to click the booking button on the right and go to the order page. If you haven't log in, you need to log in before you can place your order. The identifying code is a bit tricky. It tells you to choose the picture(s) according to the description. Unfortunately Google translate can't translate the words in for this part. I suggest you to use the Google translate app on your phone, it has the "scan and translate" function.

When you see a orange button, just click it. Most of the time it says "Confirm" or "Net step". After you log in, you'll see the ordering page. Here you can check all the booking information and fill in the passenger information.

Then hit the payment button and you can choose to pay by your credit card. Once you paid, you will receive an confirm Email very soon.

In this Email, you will see the detail information about your booking. The most important thing is the order number. The Email above is in Chinese originally, I used the Google Translate to make it this way. That is why some translation don't make sense. In the example Email, EB38235375 is the order number. You need to write down this number. Before you take the train, you have to go to the ticket window at the train station. There you hand your passport and this order number to the staff and then you can pick up your ticket!