Train tickets with a passport

01Why book on 12306 rather than through an agent

12306 is China Railway’s own platform and the only one that is actually official. Agents add a markup, and when something goes wrong — a delay, a cancellation, a change — the refund has to travel back through them. Booking direct keeps you in control.

• No booking fee. Agents typically charge a per-ticket commission on top of the fare.
• Refunds and changes are processed directly by the railway, not by an intermediary.
• There is an English-language website and app, built specifically for foreign passport holders.
• Third-party sites sometimes show phantom availability or resell seats at a premium.

02The 15-day presale window

Tickets go on sale 15 days before departure, counting the day of travel as one of the 15. This is the single most important number for planning a trip by rail, because popular trains on popular dates sell out within minutes of release.

• The presale period was set to 15 days inclusive from 1 June 2022 and remains the published window.
• Tickets are released at a per-station time, not all at once. Large stations release earlier in the day.
• Set a reminder for the release minute for any train you care about — sleeper berths and holiday trains go fastest.
• If you miss the release, the waitlist function is the next best thing: you join a queue and are allocated seats as they are released or refunded.

Presale windows and release times are adjusted around major holidays. Check the 12306 announcements page before a holiday trip rather than assuming the usual 15 days.

03Register and verify your passport

The English site has a narrower identity rule than the Chinese one: it accepts only valid foreign passports. This is exactly what a visitor has, so it is not a problem — but it does mean you must register with the passport you will travel on.

• Create an account on the English site or app using your passport details.
• Add each traveller under the passengers section, entering names and passport numbers exactly as printed.
• Identity verification usually completes within minutes, but can take longer near holidays.
• Use the same passport for registration, booking and travel. A new passport means re-registering.
• The English site handles ticket purchase, endorsement, refund and change of destination.

04Booking, and the fact that you never collect a ticket

Chinese rail is effectively paperless. Once your booking is confirmed, your passport is the ticket — you scan or swipe it at the gate and again at the platform.

• An e-ticket is a contract record, not a piece of paper. Nothing needs printing.
• You can print an itinerary sheet for expense purposes, but it is not a ticket and cannot be used to board.
• Passport gates work at all major high-speed stations.
• If a gate rejects your passport, go to a staffed counter — this is a known and easily fixed situation.

05At the station

Chinese stations are large, busy and well organised, but they reward arriving early rather than cutting it fine.

• Allow 30–45 minutes at a large station: security screening, finding the waiting hall, and the walk to the platform.
• Boarding usually starts 10–15 minutes before departure and gates close a few minutes before.
• Your passport is checked at the gate, and sometimes again on board.
• Waiting halls show your train on a board with the platform number. Board when your train appears.
• Check which station your train uses. A city with five stations will punish a wrong assumption.

06Changing your ticket — the exact fees

Changes are handled in the app or at a counter, and the fees depend on how close to departure you make the change. The current scale took effect on 15 January 2024 and replaced a more restrictive one.

• More than 48 hours before departure: change to another train and the fee is calculated on the lower of the two fares at the standard rate.
• 24 to 48 hours before departure: 5% of the lower of the original and the new fare.
• Less than 24 hours before departure: 15% of the lower of the two fares.
• After departure, before midnight on the same day: you may still change to a train after your ticketed date, at 40% of the lower of the two fares.
• If the new ticket is cheaper, the difference is refunded minus the applicable fee.

07Refunds — the exact fees

The refund scale is tiered and rewards planning. The rounding rules are unusual and worth knowing, because they can move the number by a yuan either way.

• More than 15 days before departure: no refund fee at all.
• 48 hours or more before departure: 5% of the fare.
• 24 to 48 hours before departure: 10% of the fare.
• Less than 24 hours before departure: 20% of the fare.
• Rounding: the fee is calculated to the nearest ¥0.50 — under ¥0.25 is dropped, ¥0.25–0.75 becomes ¥0.50, above ¥0.75 rounds up to ¥1. The minimum fee is ¥2.
• If you changed your ticket to a train more than 15 days out and then refund it more than 15 days out, the 5% change fee still applies.
• Tickets whose travel date falls in the Spring Festival period are always refunded at the under-24-hours rate, whatever the actual timing.

08Seat and berth types

Knowing the classes prevents both overpaying and unpleasant surprises on an overnight train.

• Second class — the standard. Comfortable, three seats each side of the aisle, and what most people book.
• First class — four seats across, more legroom, roughly 60% more expensive.
• Business class — lie-flat seats, the most expensive and rarely necessary.
• Soft sleeper — four berths in a closed compartment with a door. The comfortable overnight option.
• Hard sleeper — six berths in an open bay, three high on each side. Cheaper, noisier, perfectly acceptable.
• Hard seat — the budget option on slow trains, and genuinely uncomfortable overnight.

09Luggage and security

Rail is far more relaxed about luggage than air travel, with one significant exception.

• There is no practical weight limit. You carry your own bags and store them on racks or at the end of the carriage.
• Security screening applies to every passenger at every station.
• Liquids are fine, but staff may ask you to open a bottle and take a sip.
• Power banks, lighters and lithium batteries are restricted in quantity and capacity. Check the prohibited-items list if you carry unusual equipment.
• Bicycles generally need to be folded and bagged; full-size bikes are not permitted on high-speed trains.

10Peak dates, and how to survive them

China has two travel peaks that dwarf everything else, and both make normal booking advice useless.

• Spring Festival (Chunyun) — around 40 days spanning Chinese New Year, when hundreds of millions travel home. Tickets vanish in seconds.
• National Day, first week of October — the other great migration, plus the whole country on holiday at once.
• At these times: book the second tickets are released, be flexible about exact dates and times, and consider the waitlist.
• Travelling in the opposite direction to the crowd is much easier. Big cities empty out during Spring Festival; routes into them are quiet.
• If rail fails entirely, domestic flights and long-distance coaches are the fallbacks.