By Rui Hu, EDITOR

According to China Railway Chengdu Group Co., Ltd., starting from July 29, the company will introduce electronic tickets at 13 stations of Chengdu–Chongqing Intercity Railway on a trial basis. This includes Rongchang North, Dazu South, Yongchuan East, Bishan, Shapingba, Chongqing Xi (West) and Chongqing Bei (North) Railway Stations. All the multiple-unit trains of C-, D- and G-series which depart from and arrive at these 13 stations. At these stations, if passengers buy electronic tickets of multiple-unit trains with one of the required documents (such as an ID card) and hold the same documents with them, they will be able to enter railway stations via facial recognition, get tickets checked via document scanning, have tickets checked on the train and exit the station via document scanning. In such cases, the railway company will not provide paper tickets anymore.

Facial recognization

The introduction of electronic tickets will, to some extent, change such processes as buying, changing and refunding tickets, entering the station and riding. Passengers who bought tickets at 12306.cn, China Railway’s official website, can print or download the purchase information sheets by themselves. As for passengers who bought tickets at ticket machines and ticket offices at railway stations, the railway authority will provide the purchase information sheets and ask passengers to check the information on the spot. Passengers who want to receive purchase information and information about timetable changes should register their mobile numbers when buying tickets. The purchase information sheet is only used as the info tip of purchasing for passengers instead of the credential to take the train.

With the Resident ID card of the PRC, foreigner’s permanent residence ID card, residence permit for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan residents or other documents which can be used for automatic recognition, passengers will be able to verify identity, check-in and check out through self-boarding gates when holding the same original valid identity documents as they used to buy tickets. On the other hand, passengers who have registered at 12306.cn should verify their identities via facial recognition on 12306 app before purchasing electronic tickets. Then, they will be able to check-in at self-boarding gates with QR code scanners by showing the dynamic QR codes created by the app. If the documents cannot be used for automatic recognition, such as a household register, passengers can verify identity, check-in and check out at human service windows with the same original valid identity documents as they used to buy tickets.

For changing or refunding tickets: passengers who paid for tickets through electronic payment systems can replace or refund their tickets at 12306.cn or specific windows at railway stations; passengers who paid for tickets in cash or have already printed the reimbursement invoices can only change or refund their tickets at specific windows at railway stations. Reimbursement invoice, if needed, can be printed at ticket offices at railway stations (including ticket machines and railway ticket agencies) only once with the same original valid identity documents as passengers used to buy tickets within 30 days from the departure date of the train.

Source: CQ NEWS

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