The 2019 Spring Festival travel rush, known as Chunyun, runs from January 21 to
March 1, when train tickets will be under great demand as hundreds of millions
of Chinese head home for the country's most important holiday. We recommend that you book train tickets as early as possible.
Timetable
People can only buy train tickets 30 days in advance. The important dates for purchasing are listed as follow.
December 23, 2018
It is the earliest day to buy tickets for January 21, 2019, the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush.
January 6, 2019
It is the earliest day to buy tickets for February 4, 2019, Chinese New Year's Eve.
January 7, 2019
It is the earliest day to buy tickets for February 5, 2019, Chinese New Year's Day.
January 12, 2019
It is the earliest day to buy tickets for February 10, 2019, which is the sixth day of the first lunar month, and the last day of Spring Festival Holiday.
January 30, 2019
It is the earliest day to buy tickets for March 1, 2019, the last day of the Spring Festival travel rush.
Ways to
purchase tickets
1. Visit
the official website of China Railway: www.12306.cn
2. Through official
cell phone application: "铁路12306"
3. Dial 95105105
4. Through
online agencies
5. Visit local railway ticket agencies
6. Visit
ticket windows or purchase through ticket machines at local railway
stations
During the Spring Festival rush, the odds of getting a ticket
through the internet are higher than purchasing tickets at railway stations or
through ticket agencies. If you book through the internet, you need to pick up
the train ticket at the railway station by showing a passport or an ID card. You
are recommended to arrive at the station 90 minutes prior to departure, since it
will take a longer time to pick up the ticket than usual as the station is
likely to be mobbed with people.
New function to obtain
tickets
A new
function on the official website of China Railway, 12306.cn, is set to be rolled
out in late December or early January. The new function will be able to
automatically allocate canceled train tickets to other buyers who have paid in
advance when tickets have sold out. "With this new function, the official
booking system will be better than ticket-snatching softwares both in speed and
success rates," said Shan Xinghua, technical head of the research team of China
Railway.
