Train Travel Guide and Policies

What can be changed: Departure date, train number, seat class, and arrival station. Please note that according to Railway Administration regulations, the arrival station can only be changed 48 hours or more before departure. Changes cannot be made within 48 hours.

What cannot be changed: Departure station (except for intra-city stations), name, ID document, ID document type, etc. If there is a name error on your ticket, it cannot be modified through ticket changes.

Each ticket can only be changed once. Once a ticket has been successfully changed, it cannot be changed again.

Tickets that have been changed after the train has departed cannot be refunded.

Tickets that have been printed for reimbursement and purchased using cash payment can only be changed at a station ticket window, and you will need to return your paper ticket.

If your ticket was issued by 12306 China Railway, changes cannot be made between 23:30 each Tuesday and 05:00 the next day. Change requests submitted during this period will be processed after 05:00 on Wednesday.

If the fare of the new ticket is higher than the original ticket, the full fare will be charged and the original fare will be refunded after the new ticket has been issued. If the fare of the new ticket is lower than the original ticket, the difference will be refunded. A change fee of CNY 15 per passenger will be charged.

Changes to China train tickets must be made at least 90 minutes before 24:00 on the day of departure. For tickets with Hong Kong West Kowloon as the departure or arrival station, changes must be made at least 90 minutes before departure. Changes can be made to other trains within the presale period, which is 15 days (including the day of departure).

If the train is canceled, please request a refund within 30 days of the scheduled departure date. If you have not collected your ticket, you can request a refund online. If you have collected your ticket, please take the ticket and the government-issued ID used to book the ticket to the station to request a refund.

If your ticket was issued by a manual assistant, Trip.com will charge a manual change fee of CNY 15 per person. If your ticket was directly issued from the official 12306 China Railway website, no manual change fee will be charged. If the original ticket is changed less than 48 hours before departure or on the original departure day before 24:00, and the new ticket is for the day after the original departure date or onwards, the Railway Administration will charge a certain percentage as the change fee.

New ticket price = Original ticket price: No Railway Administration processing fee will be charged.

New ticket price < Original ticket price: The Railway Administration refund fee will be deducted from the price difference amount. The remaining amount will then be refunded to your original account of payment.

New ticket price > Original ticket price: You will need to pay for your new ticket. The price for your original ticket will be refunded directly to your original account of payment.

For changes made online, your refund will generally be returned to your original account of payment within 7–10 working days.

For changes made at the station, your refund will generally be returned to your original account of payment within 7–20 working days.

New ticket price < Original ticket price: The price difference will be refunded. A refund fee will also be charged for the difference in price amount. The refund fee amount will follow the existing refund fee standards.

New ticket price > Original ticket price: The original ticket amount will be refunded, and no refund fee will be charged. The new ticket price will need to be paid in full.

If a train ticket is changed within 7 days of the departure time to a train departing 8 days or more from the change ticket time, and the same ticket is later refunded, a 5% refund fee will apply.

If a train ticket is changed within 48 hours to 8 days from the departure time to a train departing 8 days or more from the change ticket time, and the same ticket is later refunded more than 8 days before the new train departure time, a 5% refund fee will apply.

For cross-border train tickets from China to Laos, only one change is allowed. When making a change, the fare for the new ticket will be charged, and the original ticket fare will be refunded. If the new ticket is cheaper than the original, a handling fee of 20% of the fare difference will be charged by the Railway Administration. Tickets that have been changed cannot be refunded.

Before departure: You can request a ticket refund in the Trip.com app.

After departure: Tickets cannot be refunded. On the day of departure, you can change to another train on the same day for free, or you can change to a future train. If no changes are made on the day of departure, the ticket will become void.

If you already have a paper ticket for reimbursement: You can first request a ticket refund in the Trip.com app and then, within 180 days, bring your original ID used at the time of booking to the station ticket window to complete the refund process and return your paper ticket for reimbursement. Only then can the Railway Authority issue a refund.

To request a refund for mainland China train tickets through a Trip.com in-person assistant, please make your request at least 60 minutes before the train departs. If you're using a 12306 China Railway account, requests must be made at least 10 minutes before departure. For trains leaving from or arriving at Hong Kong West Kowloon Station, refund requests via a Trip.com in-person assistant should be made at least 60 minutes before departure. Using a 12306 China Railway account, requests must be made at least 45 minutes before departure.

For cross-border train tickets from China to Laos, refunds can be requested before departure. A handling fee of 20% of the ticket fare will be charged by the Railway Administration.

Children's tickets are issued under real-name registration. Please use the child's own ID document when booking child tickets. When you book a child ticket, Trip.com will first charge the price of an adult ticket. Once the child ticket has been issued, Trip.com will refund the price difference between the adult ticket and the actual price of the child ticket to your original account of payment.

Each adult passenger with a ticket can bring only one child for free. If an adult passenger is traveling with more than one child, additional child tickets must be purchased.

Children's discounted tickets are available for regular passenger train tickets, express train tickets, air-conditioned train tickets, and high-speed train seat tickets. The price of children's discounted tickets on regular passenger trains is calculated as 50% of the published ticket price for corresponding passenger tickets and additional tickets. When children traveling for free or with discounted child tickets use a sleeper berth separately, the full price of the sleeper berth ticket will be charged. If there is air conditioning, half the price of the air-conditioned train ticket will be charged.

Children traveling for free and children who meet the conditions for using child tickets should travel together with an adult. The date, train number, and seat type on the child ticket should match the adult ticket. The child's destination cannot be further than the destination of the accompanying adult.

If child tickets are changed, they must be changed together with the corresponding adult tickets. Children cannot travel on trains alone.