Photo via VCG

On October 25, the customer service center of the 12306 China Railway (hereinafter referred to as the "12306") launched its telephone booking service for group tickets. In the meantime, the railway stations nationwide continue selling group tickets on site. 

The new service supports inquiries and ticket purchase for groups of 20 or more people traveling on the same train and date, with bookings made at least three days in advance. Service hours are from 8:00 to 18:00 daily.

To book group tickets, travelers can call 12306 and press "3" to reach the dedicated service desk. They should provide details such as travel date, train number, seat class(es), number of passengers, as well as the contact and identity information of the person making the booking.

On receiving the request, the 12306 customer service center will check seat availability. If there are sufficient unsold tickets, an order number will be generated and sent to the person making the booking via text message and telephone. If not, the staff member in charge will discuss with the person making the booking to figure out an alternative plan.

Once an order number has been issued, the person making the booking should complete the purchase by bringing the identity documents (original copies or photocopies) of all passengers in the group to a service window of any railway stations in China and pay for all the tickets by 24:00 on the day after receiving the notification. The order will be automatically canceled if payment is not completed before the deadline. 

Meanwhile, the 12306 App and website have increased the maximum number of tickets per single order from 9 to 19, and the number of passengers that can be added to a single 12306 account has been raised from 15 to 30.

(Source: Official WeChat account of CCTV News)