About Us — Who Books Your China Train Tickets
We book real China Railway tickets for people who do not have a Chinese ID card.
Why this site exists
China has the largest high-speed rail network in the world — over 45,000 km of track connecting nearly every major city. But the official booking channel assumes you have a Chinese ID number, a Chinese phone number, and a Chinese payment method. For most foreign visitors, that is three walls too many.
We exist to take those walls down. You tell us where you want to go and hand us your passport details. We buy the ticket in China Railway’s system on your behalf, in your name, against your passport number.
What we actually do
We are a booking agent, not a reseller of tour packages. Every order results in a genuine seat reserved under your name in China Railway’s own system. Nothing is "confirmed later" and nothing is a placeholder.
Because the ticket is issued against your passport number, the passport itself becomes your ticket at the station. There is usually nothing to collect and nothing to print.
Who we are not
We are not China Railway, not 12306 (the official booking platform), and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting for either of them. We do not claim to be an official channel and we do not use official branding.
We are an independent ticketing agency. We buy seats through the same public sales channels any customer can use, and we charge a service fee for the part that is genuinely hard from outside China: the language, the ID requirement, and the payment method.
If you can book directly on 12306 yourself — with a Chinese ID, a Chinese phone number and a Chinese payment method — you do not need us, and we will tell you so.
What we charge
Our service fee is included in the price we show you — there is no separate line item at checkout and no surprise charge later. It is a fixed amount in one of three bands, decided by the dollar value of the ticket: US$8 when the fare for that ticket is under US$30, US$10 from US$30 to US$50, and US$12 above US$50. It is not a percentage, so it does not grow as the fare grows, and it is the same for adults and children. The full breakdown, with worked examples, is on our pricing page.
We do not sell your data, and we do not run advertising networks on this site.
Our limits
We cannot guarantee a specific seat if China Railway has already sold it out, and we cannot change their timetable or refund policy. We are also honest about timing: trains departing very soon are genuinely hard to fulfil, so we set clear cut-off windows rather than promising things we cannot deliver.
Who handles your payment
Card payments are processed by Waffo Pancake, which acts as the merchant of record. That means Waffo — not us — is the seller of record for the payment, handles any sales tax due, and is the name that appears on your card statement.
Your card number never reaches our servers: it is entered on the processor’s own hosted checkout. We receive only a confirmation, the amount, and the last four digits.
Corrections and review
Fares, timetables and visa-free transit rules change often. This page was last reviewed on 2026-10-27. If you find something out of date, email traintickets@trainticketschina.com and we will correct it.
All train routes we cover
Every route below has a dedicated page with live timetables, USD fares and a direct booking link.