Han Ximin, Liu Shiyang

    ximhan@126.com

    TRAIN tickets for the Spring Festival Travel Season went on sale Thursday, 30 days in advance of departure, through the China railway ticket website www.12306.cn and the 12306 phone app, Shenzhen Railway Station said.

    Besides the above methods, travelers can purchase tickets at ticket outlets within 28 days of departure. For cities within Guangdong and Hunan, travelers can also book tickets via the phone hotlines 9510510 and 96020088 30 days ahead. According to Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corp., 80 percent of tickets are generally sold on the Internet and phone hotlines.

    According to the railway operator, the tickets for the Guangzhou-Kowloon Express trains operated by Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corp. cannot be booked through the website and mobile app.

    The service counters at Shenzhen Railway Station and Shenzhen East Railway Station will sell tickets two days before departure, and self-service ticket machines sell tickets within 28 days before departure.

    Unlike previous years, the operator won’t set up centralized counters for buyers to collect their tickets. Travelers who have bought tickets online or through phone can collect their tickets at nearby ticket outlets or self-service machines once their reservations have been confirmed.

    The Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corp. has set up 4,100 ticket outlets in Guangdong, Hunan and Hainan provinces.

    To tackle ticket scalping, tickets can only be sold and collected at outlets by passengers with valid certificates such as second-generation ID cards, travel permits to Hong Kong and Macao, travel passes between Taiwan and the mainland, passports and military service certificates.

    Those who collect tickets at service counters at Shenzhen Railway Station can only collect five tickets per person, and the ticket collector should be one of the passengers on the order list.

    Temporary trains for holidays

    SHENZHEN East Railway Station in Longgang District and Shenzhen Railway Station in Luohu District will operate 23 temporary trains during the Spring Festival Travel Season, the operator said.

    At Shenzhen Railway Station, 15 temporary trains will be added, mainly to service Ankang, Chongqing, Guang’an, Nanxiong, Yueyang, Hengyang, Yichang, Xiangyang, Wuchang, Chengdu, Nanchong, Zhengzhou and Dazhou cities.

    Shenzhen East Railway Station will add eight temporary trains servicing Wuhan, Xinyang, Macheng, Xiangyang, Chongqing and Jiujiang cities.

    Tickets for the temporary trains went on sale Thursday.

    (Han Ximin, Liu Shiyang)