Buying a train ticket to depart from a different station.

Buying a train ticket to depart from a different station.

I'd be grateful for advice from someone used to buying train tickets in China. I've done so many times, but not recently.

I know that I cannot buy China train tickets online, but am I right in thinking that it is now possible to buy a ticket departing from a station other than the one I'm buying my ticket from?

In my case, my wife and I want to take the Guangzhou-Sanya train departing this Friday evening May 9, but CTS here in Hong Kong does not sell tickets for this train. So I'm now thinking to make a quick trip from HK to Shenzhen station tomorrow May 8 to see if they can sell me this ticket for a train originating from Guangzhou.

If not possible, we will have to try our luck at Guangzhou station on Friday just 2 hours before the train leaves. Maybe it will be sold out by then, so I'd rather by the tickets early if I can

I think what you want is the Yudi (余地) window at the Shenzhen train station. I might have that wrong though, I forget what it's called in Chinese.

Anyway, it should be possible to buy Guangzhou tix in Shenzhen.

You want the 异地票 yidi piao window at Shenzhen station, and yes, they should offer tickets from Guangzhou to Sanya, at a 5RMB commission over the normal price.

There's some mystery about ticket sales in China, and I suspect, but don't know, that the number of tickets allotted as 异地票 yidi piao is limited. Thus it's possible that tickets on a particular train might be available in Guangzhou, yet sold out in Shenzhen.

Ah, yidi, I knew yudi didn't look right (nor does it make any sense)

That worked out very well, thanks both for your help. This morning I got one of my students in HK to write in Chinese "Where is the .异地票 yidi piao window", along with the details of the tickets I wanted. This afternoon, within 10 minutes of arriving at Shenzhen station, I got my soft sleeper tickets at RMB 5 commission each on top of the normal price.