Taking China's High-Speed Rail with a Foreign Passport

Last verified 2026-10-14 · re-checked every 30 days

Register on 12306 with your passport, buy an e-ticket, then board by scanning that same passport at the gate — no paper ticket needed.

Use the resources you need

Book through China Railway’s own channels. A problem on a booking is far easier to fix on the official system than on a third-party site. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

• 12306 English website — www.12306.cn/en/index.html. Registration, ticket purchase, endorsement (changes), refunds and change of destination all live here. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• 12306 mobile app (English) — the same account and services as the website. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• China Railway booking hotline 12306 — you can book by phone, then pay within the time the hotline gives you. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Staffed ticket counter at a railway station (and railway ticket agencies) — walk-up purchase, and the place to handle anything that needs a person. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Self-service ticket machines — these work with permanent-resident ID cards, not foreign passports. With a passport, buy online or at a staffed counter. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)

What to have ready before you start:

• The passport you will actually travel with. You need its number, expiry date, date of birth and nationality. (12306 registration page, 2026-10-14)
• A username, password and email address for your 12306 account. (12306 registration page, 2026-10-14)
• A way to pay. 12306 accepts Chinese and foreign bank cards and mobile payment apps. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)

Service hours matter when you are in a hurry: information queries and refunds run 24 hours a day; ticket sales and endorsement run from 05:00 to 01:00 the next day (until 23:30 on Tuesdays). (12306 English website, 2026-10-14)

Steps

Step 1 — Register a 12306 account with your passport

On the 12306 English website and app, registration accepts foreign passports only. (12306 registration page, 2026-10-14) The form asks for nationality, name, passport number, passport expiry date, date of birth, gender, username, password, confirm password and email address. (12306 registration page, 2026-10-14) Register with the passport you will travel on — the ID on the booking has to match the ID you present at the station. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Then complete identity verification. Enter your name, nationality and ID number and the system may verify you automatically; if it does not, you can upload a photo of the passport information page for manual verification, or take the passport to a ticket office at a railway station. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)

Type your name exactly as the 12306 passport rules require, because a mismatch here is the most common reason a gate later rejects you:

• Passport shows Surname and Given Names → type the surname first, one space, then all given names (for example: AMAN TANIA). (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14)
• Passport shows First Name, Middle Name, Last Name → type them in that order, separated by single spaces (for example: TONY ALAN MILLER). (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14)
• Use Latin letters only. Keep spaces exactly as they appear on the document. Leave out titles such as Mr, Miss or Master, and leave out a second name written in parentheses. (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14)
• If the machine-readable zone at the bottom of the passport uses < or <<, replace those with a single space. (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14)
• Passport number: type it as one continuous string with no spaces, and drop a “No” prefix if the document prints one. (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14)

Step 2 — Buy the ticket

• Buy on the 12306 English website or app, by the 12306 hotline, or at a station counter or ticket agency. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14) You can pay with Chinese or foreign bank cards or a mobile payment app. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)
• Choose your date, train and seat class, and confirm the passenger is you.
• One valid ID can hold only one ticket for the same train on the same date. That is fine for a solo trip, but if you are buying for a companion, add them under My Passengers with their exact name, ID type and number first, and only buy once their ID shows as verified or ready to be verified. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• You will get an e-ticket. You do not need to collect a paper ticket to travel, and you do not need to queue at a counter on the day. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Step 3 — Enter the station

• Walk up to a check-in gate with your passport and scan it. An e-ticket is tied to that ID document, so the passport itself is your ticket. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Stations differ. Some gates read foreign passports and some do not, and the details of check-in are set station by station. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14) Watch the signage and listen for announcements, and if the gate will not read your passport, use the staffed (manual) lane. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14) On your first trip through a station, budget extra time for exactly this.
• You scan the same passport again to exit at your destination station, so keep it within reach rather than buried in luggage. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Need a record of the trip? You can print or download an itinerary sheet from 12306, or have it printed at designated station counters or ticket machines. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14) An itinerary sheet is not a ticket, and neither is a reimbursement voucher — you cannot board with either. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Step 4 — Changes and refunds

Both are available on the 12306 English website and app, or at a station ticket counter. A ticket can be changed once. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Change (endorsement), by when you change and when the new train leaves:

• More than 48 hours before departure: no fee. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• 24 to 48 hours before departure, switching to a train that leaves before 24:00 on your original departure date: no fee. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• After the train has departed, switching to another train on the same day: no fee. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• 24 to 48 hours before departure, to a train leaving on a later date: 5% of the lower fare. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Under 24 hours before departure, to a train leaving on a later date: 15% of the lower fare. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• After the train has departed, changing to a next-day or later train: 40% of the lower fare. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Changing your arrival station has its own limit: you must request it at least 48 hours before departure, and once you change the arrival station you cannot change anything else on that ticket. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Refund, by how early you cancel:

• 8 or more days before departure: no fee. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• More than 48 hours before departure: 5% of the ticket price. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Between 24 and 48 hours before departure: 10%. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Under 24 hours before departure: 20%. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

The fee is rounded to the nearest RMB 0.5, with a minimum of RMB 2. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14) If your ticket was endorsed, or you changed its destination between 48 hours and 8 days before departure to a train leaving at least 8 days later, a 5% fee applies even if you refund 8 or more days before departure. Tickets endorsed after departure cannot be refunded, and you cannot refund after the trip has started (illness or injury is handled separately). (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

If you paid cash or printed a reimbursement voucher: apply for the refund on 12306, then collect the money at the station ticket counter with your original ID within 180 days of the online application, and hand the voucher back. The same voucher rule forces you to the counter for changes as well. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)

Common mistakes and failure cases

• Name order reversed. Passport machines and gates compare your typed name against the document. Enter the surname first, then given names, in the exact order the 12306 passport rules show on their examples. (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14) (12306 help centre, 2026-10-14)
• Spaces or a “No” prefix inside the passport number. The number must be one continuous string. Spaces are dropped, and a printed “No” is not part of the number. (12306 passport entry rules, 2026-10-14)
• Registering with one passport and travelling with another. The account, the booking and the gate all compare against the same ID document. Book with the passport you will carry. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• The gate will not read your passport. This happens at some stations. Do not keep retrying the same gate — move to the staffed (manual) lane, and leave extra time because that queue is slower. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)
• Treating an itinerary sheet or reimbursement voucher as a ticket. Neither boards a train. Print them only for records or expense claims, and remember that printing a reimbursement voucher means changes and refunds must be handled at a station counter, where you also have to hand the voucher back. (12306 English FAQ, 2026-10-14)
• Trying to buy at a self-service machine. Those machines take permanent-resident ID cards, not foreign passports. Use the 12306 website or app, the hotline, or a staffed counter. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)
• Leaving verification until the travel day. If identity verification has not gone through, you cannot buy. Verify your passport as soon as you register, not at the station. (State Council guide, 2026-10-14)
• Booking late for a popular route. Advice, not a rule: buy as early as you can rather than on the day you travel, and plan furthest ahead for popular routes and holiday periods.