Time to grab your train tickets for National Day. But to go or not to go is the question. Officially, yeah, do what you want. Unofficially, hmmm. Yet, there seem to be plenty train tickets available for those willing to take the risk.
The official line in Chinese is “自愿、免费、即采即走、不限制流动”. In English, we might come up with something like, “Go where you want, go when you want. No one is going to stop you; there are no restrictions on mobility.”
Sounds nice, but a bit of a mouthful. The between-the-lines meaning of course is, “We want you to travel anywhere you want, we want to maintain ‘epidemic prevention and control’ (sick of that phrase now), but we also want to promote the tourism industry”.
Trouble is there ain’t three sides to every coin. And the bookings are hardly rolling in.
With train tickets having gone on sale for the 2022 National Day holiday in the last few days, there is far from the usual “qiangpiao” (抢票) or “scramble for tickets”.
As an example, The Nanjinger was this afternoon easily able to find available a business class ticket (what else?) for travel between Nanjing South Railway Station and Xiamen.
That would be the G1675, departing at 13:28 on 30 September, arriving 20:53. Nine tickets in business class available (like, almost the entire coach) and another nine in first class. Nothing in second, but there are on trains earlier in the day.
That all said, The Paper reports that Wu Liangyou, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Disease Control at the National Health Commission, has advocated that the masses spend National Day locally.
He would, though. But what happens if you fancy a trip, buy a ticket and then change you mind?
In terms of ticket refunds, the China Railway platform that is 12306 has said that no refund fee will be charged for tickets bought 8 days or more before departure. Tickets cancelled within 2 and 7 days of departure shall be penalised 5 percent of the ticket price. Refunds on tickets cancelled within 24 to 48 hours of travel shall be hit with a 10 percent fee.
If you are still intent on travelling, just remember that a 48-hour NAT is going to be a requirement, even just to get in the train station or airport.
