China Train Tickets
High-speed rail across China — book in English, pay with an international card, and travel on your passport. No paper ticket needed.
Beliebte Strecken
Die meistgebuchten Hochgeschwindigkeitsstrecken dieser Woche — every route below opens its own schedule, journey time and fare page.
China Railway: the network
What to expect from train travel in China, and how to read the timetable.
China Bahn runs the largest high-speed railway network in the world — our timetable covers 3.404 Bahnhöfe · 432 Städte. Almost every place a visitor wants to go (Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Chengdu, Guilin, Kunming, Hangzhou) is on the rail map rather than a flight away: high-speed services run at 200–350 km/h, so Beijing–Shanghai takes under 4.5 hours and Shanghai–Hangzhou under an hour.
Trains are identified by a letter prefix. Knowing the six you will actually see makes a Chinese timetable readable at a glance:
| Code | Type | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| G | Schnellzug | Fastest services, running on dedicated high-speed lines |
| D | Regional-Express | High-speed trains that also use upgraded conventional lines |
| C | Intercity | Short intercity runs between neighbouring cities |
| Z | Durchgangszug | Direct express with few or no intermediate stops |
| T | Express | Express — more stops and slower than Z trains |
| K | Regionalzug | Conventional trains, the slowest and cheapest option |
The letter is part of the train number: G7, D3106, C2001, Z20, T110, K816.
Three things foreign travellers need to know before booking. First, ticketing is real-name: every ticket is issued against a specific passport, so the name you type must match your passport exactly. Second, on most high-speed lines that passport is your ticket — you scan it at the gate instead of collecting paper, and if a gate does not read it, the staffed counter next to it will. Third, sales usually open 14 days before departure, so popular trains sell out early on public holidays; book as soon as your dates are fixed.
We handle the parts that are hard from abroad: searching in English, quoting in your own currency with the fare and our service fee shown separately, and paying with VISA, MasterCard, AMEX or PayPal. Once your seats are confirmed we email the e-ticket — nothing to collect at a counter, nothing to print.
So geht es weiter
Jetzt keine Zahlung. Wir prüfen die Verfügbarkeit und senden Ihnen dann einen sicheren Zahlungslink per E-Mail.
Unser Team prüft die Platzverfügbarkeit bei der Bahn.
Sie erhalten einen sicheren Zahlungslink per E-Mail.
E-Tickets werden auf den Reisepass ausgestellt — kein Papierticket nötig.
Häufige Fragen
So buchen Sie online
Kann ich außerhalb Chinas buchen?
Ja, weltweit. Wir stellen E-Tickets aus – Passkontrolle am Bahnhof genügt.
Wie viele Tage im Voraus?
Der Verkauf öffnet meist 14 Tage vor Abfahrt. Der Kalender zeigt den Zeitraum.
Welche Angaben sind nötig?
Vollständiger Name wie im Pass, Passnummer, Geburtsdatum.
Wie kann ich zahlen?
VISA, MasterCard, AMEX und PayPal in mehreren Währungen.
Wie erhalte ich die Tickets?
Bestätigung per E-Mail. Meist kein Papierticket – Pass scannen.
Wie storniere ich?
Online unter Meine Buchungen. Erstattung nach Bahnrichtlinien.