China Holiday Train Tickets on Sale for 16-Day Period

Train tickets for China’s Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday travel period went on sale Wednesday, as the national railway operator prepares for what it describes as the longest holiday transport window on record. Tickets for September 23, the first day of the 16-day travel period, are now available through the official 12306 platform, according to China State Railway Group.

Context: Two Festivals, One Extended Travel Season

The railway holiday transport period runs from September 23 to October 8 — a span of 16 days that railway authorities say is the longest ever for the combined Mid-Autumn and National Day season. October 1 is expected to be the peak passenger flow day.

This year’s holiday structure differs notably from 2025, when the two festivals overlapped into a single eight-day holiday. In 2026, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 25-27, while National Day runs from October 1-7, with only three working days between them. As China Daily noted, the proximity means short-distance Mid-Autumn travel and long-distance National Day travel will overlap and combine, creating sustained demand throughout the period.

Capacity Expansion and Peak Operations

To meet anticipated demand, the national railway will implement a peak operating timetable, scheduling an average of approximately 13,000 passenger trains daily. The operator plans to deploy night high-speed trains on major corridors — including the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou, and Beijing-Harbin lines — during early morning hours on selected peak dates between September 25 and October 8.

Additional high-speed sleeper services will run on routes linking Beijing with Shenzhen, Nanning, Kunming, Hong Kong and other destinations, as well as Shanghai with cities including Guangzhou and Zhuhai. Extra sleeper services on September 29 and October 6 will connect Beijing with Chengdu and Guiyang, and Chengdu with Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

The operator will also run themed tourism services such as the “Panda Express” and “Starlight-Yanzhao” special trains, along with customized “concert fan” and “football fan” trains designed to boost service consumption. International services, including trains on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and routes to Laos, Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam and North Korea, will continue operating throughout the holiday period, as reported by CCTV News.

Regional Projections: Yangtze River Delta

The Yangtze River Delta railway region — covering Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui — expects to carry approximately 54 million passengers during the 16-day period, according to the China Railway Shanghai Group. October 1 is projected to handle 4.4 million passengers in a single day, which would set a new record for the region during the Mid-Autumn/National Day transport window. The region plans to add 304 temporary passenger trains, a 17.3% increase over last year’s holiday schedule, as Shanghai Observer reported.

New Reservation Pilot Program

This year marks a significant shift in how tickets are sold on one of China’s busiest rail corridors. Since July 20, the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and Beijing-Shanghai Railway have piloted an advance reservation service allowing passengers to book tickets up to 60 days ahead — far beyond the standard 15-day pre-sale window. Reservations for September 23 travel began being fulfilled on September 4, according to Xinhua.

The system allocates tickets based on “long-distance priority, balanced with mid- and short-distance needs” and a “first-come, first-served” principle, with fulfillment occurring between 20 and 16 days before departure.

Official Warning on Ticketing Channels

Railway authorities are urging passengers to use only the official 12306 platform, emphasizing that it is the sole authorized ticketing channel and has never partnered with third-party platforms. Officials state there are no “speed-up packages,” membership fees, or seat selection charges on the official system — a warning aimed at unauthorized resellers and scalping services.

What to Watch For

Last year, China’s railways set a single-day record of 23.13 million passenger trips on October 1, 2025, during the combined eight-day holiday, as People’s Daily Online reported. With this year’s extended 16-day transport window and the separation of the two festivals, the key question is whether total passenger volumes across the period will surpass previous records — and how effectively the new reservation system and expanded night services will manage the surge.

Passengers who miss out on initial ticket sales are advised to use the 12306 waiting-list function, which allows up to 60 “date + train number” combinations. Newly released tickets will be allocated first to waiting-list passengers, and the railway says it will dynamically adjust capacity based on real-time demand data.

As millions of travelers prepare for one of China’s most significant annual journeys, the coming weeks will test the resilience of the world’s largest high-speed rail network — and the innovations designed to keep one of the country’s busiest travel seasons moving smoothly.