Railway passengers across China will wave goodbye to paper tickets as the country allows people traveling on normal-speed trains to use electronic tickets, according to the country's railway operator.
Starting on Saturday, the e-ticket system, which was previously limited to high-speed and intercity railways, will be promoted on rail lines running at normal speed, with over 1,300 such stations involved in the new arrangement, the China State Railway Group said on Wednesday.
Normal-speed trains play a vital role in railway transport and also serve as an important choice for passengers, handling over one-third of all railway passenger trips annually, the company said.
With the new policy taking effect soon, it will bring the total number of railway stations using e-tickets to more than 2,400, and about 95 percent of railway passengers across the country will benefit from the move, it added.
Passengers using the e-ticket system will be able to enter the station and check in with their ID cards and facial recognition without a paper ticket. The system will also reduce wait time and eliminate the risk of losing tickets or being sold fake tickets, it said, adding that the average time of ticket-checking will be shortened from 3.8 seconds per person to 1.3 seconds.
For foreigners buying train tickets, you may be able to use e-tickets if you qualify.
sourced from 12306 china railway official website:
II. Arrivals and departures
Passengers who purchase tickets with such legible documents as People's Republic of China resident identity cards, residence permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents, residence permits for Taiwan residents, permanent resident identity cards for foreigners, travel permits for Hong Kong and Macao residents to and from the Mainland, and travel permits for Taiwan residents to and from the Mainland (hereinafter referred to as auto-legible documents) shall complete validation and entry/exit procedures through self-service gates with the original valid identity documents used at the time of ticket purchase.
Passengers using other identification documents to purchase tickets shall complete the real-name verification and entry/exit procedures through an artificial channel with the original valid identification documents used at the time of ticket purchase. Entrance and exit ticketing procedures. When traveling with a child ticket, passengers must present the original valid identity documents of themselves or the adult accompanying them that were used to purchase the ticket, and go through the manual ticketing process. The passageway completes real-name verification and inbound and outbound ticket inspection procedures.
source: 12306,chinadaily
