Beijing South Railway Station Expands Paperless Tickets for High-Speed Trains

Joey Knotts, Contributing Editor | Nov 27, 2019 8:30 am | 2 comments | 946 reads

Standing in line for tickets is quickly becoming a thing of the past for high-speed train passengers leaving from Beijing South Railway Station. Just days after 68 other stations in the country rolled out programs to eliminate the need for paper tickets when boarding high-speed trains, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway expanded its own paperless ticketing program that allows passengers to board via QR code using the 12306 app, in accordance with the China Railway Company’s plan to eventually enable phone-based ticketing everywhere in China.

Previously, only passengers taking the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway all the way to Shanghai could take advantage of paperless ticketing. Now, travelers on the line can take advantage of the program when heading to nearby destinations, namely:

Tianjin West Station
Langfang Station
Tianjin SouthStation
Cangzhou West Station
Dezhou East Station

The move is especially welcomed by foreigners, who are denied access to the automatic ticketing machines in railway stations, forcing them to line up at the ticket booths to redeem their reserved tickets. Foreigners will still need to show their passports when entering the station and boarding.

Paper tickets will still be available for those who prefer them, and indeed, the stubs are still necessary as a receipt for business travelers seeking reimbursement. It should also be noted that the 12306 app is entirely in Chinese, so navigating it may be a challenge for those who can't read Chinese. If that’s the case, not to worry because the ticket booths aren’t going anywhere.

As of yet, there is no word on the slightly busier Beijing West Railway Station joining in on the paperless program, nor for the original Beijing Railway Station, so travelers seeking peak efficiency had better be picky about their route choices for the time being.

Safe travels, readers, and be sure to double-check which track Q... R... on!