en.Wedoany.com Reported - Starting July 20, China Railway will pilot a new train ticket reservation service on over 200 trains along the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Beijing-Shanghai Railway. The reservation service allows passengers to submit travel requests before the official ticket pre-sale period begins. Based on these requests, railway authorities will coordinate transportation capacity and ticket resources, and provide feedback on the fulfillment results within a specified timeframe.
The reservation period is tentatively set from the 60th day to the 17th day before departure. Starting at 8:00 AM daily, passengers can submit reservation orders for trains departing on the 60th day. The service is being piloted on over 200 trains along the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and the Beijing-Shanghai Railway. This region was selected due to its high passenger flow and diverse travel demands, which will help collect data and provide references for expanding the pilot scope in the future.
The reservation service offers two modes: "Precise Reservation" and "Flexible Reservation." In the "Precise Reservation" mode, the system provides options such as departure and arrival times, seat classes, and ticket prices for reservable trains. In the "Flexible Reservation" mode, passengers can select departure and arrival time ranges, travel duration, and seat classes. Each railway 12306 account can submit up to three pending reservation orders simultaneously. Each order can include a maximum of three "Precise Reservations" and two "Flexible Reservations" for up to two consecutive days, with a clear priority order specified. Once a reservation order is submitted, the system does not support modifying the information. If changes are needed, the original order must be canceled and resubmitted.
Railway authorities will allocate all ticket inventory for the pilot trains to the reservation service. If a passenger's reservation request is not fulfilled, they can search for and purchase tickets during the pre-sale period or submit a waitlist order. The reservation service also introduces new refund and change rules: For reserved tickets refunded between the 20th day and the 8th day before departure, a 5% refund fee based on the ticket price will be charged; refunds within 8 days before departure will follow existing rules. Reserved tickets can be changed once to a ticket within the pre-sale period. If the change is made between the 20th day and the 8th day before departure and the new ticket price is lower than the original, the difference will be refunded with a 5% fee charged; if the new ticket price is higher, the difference must be paid. Changes within 8 days before departure will follow existing rules.
During the pilot period, the train ticket reservation service is open to all passengers. Children, students, and disabled military personnel and police officers can reserve discounted tickets, with existing discount policies unchanged. If the same passenger submits multiple reservation orders with conflicting itineraries, the system will process them in the order of submission. Once one order is successfully fulfilled, other conflicting orders will automatically be marked as "Fulfillment Failed."
