Shanghai (CNS) -- Travellers using high speed trains on the Shanghai-Hangzhou and Shanghai-Nanjing lines can now book their tickets online and use their IDs to access the trains. The new service was made available December 1. So far, the three Shanghai high speed railways – Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Hangzhou and Shanghai-Nanjing have all activated the online service.
The first day went smoothly, though most passengers who have already booked online still prefer to exchange for paper tickets at ticket windows, which seem a more secure option to them, according to Yao Yang, shift foreman at the Shanghai Hongqiao Station.
The Hongqiao Station is connected with the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport on two metro lines. Transfers from flights to trains are now made faster and easier with advance online booking.
Valid IDs include Chinese ID cards, passes of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents moving to the mainland for travelling or working, and foreign passports. The period allowed for the advance online booking service remains the same with those of ticket windows in the stations and around the city.
The T trains will launch the same service from December 10, after it was made possible with all G, D, C, and Z trains. The local authority said that 7,000 to 12,000 passengers making up the city's daily railway load book their tickets online now, and the group is expected to expand rapidly.
The Shanghai railway authority has also gradually reduced the number of Beijing-Shanghai high speed trains from 73 pairs to 50, and from 93 pairs to 83 on the Shanghai-Hangzhou line. All 103 pairs on the Shanghai-Nanjing line have been retained.
