could anybody know a place to book a train ticket

[Russ]

It's almost impassible to buy train tickets in the central train station and so many people are in lineups. Can anybody know a place to book a ticket, or online? Thank you for input

[laowai89]

Yeah buying tickets from the station itself is a pain - you're better off going to one of the 2 downtown ticket agents. One is on Guanqian Jie (the big pedestrianized shopping street) roughly halfway along - look for the characters 火车票 (huo che piao). Alternatively there's one on Xiangwang Lu just off Shiquan Jie (the bar street) - look for the 100 Happy Hotel and walk down the small street beside it - the ticket office is on the left side about 150metres along. These places charge 5RMB commission on top of the train fare but generally speaking it's a quicker service although don't expect the staff to speak English, and during festival periods they can be just as busy as the station ticket hall.

Also don't forget your passport - the government is cracking down on scalpers who buy up all the tickets and sell them at inflated prices so you need ID when you buy your ticket.

[AnnaLi]

try the website www.12306.cn it's the ticketing availability checking, and if you can register online for a user name and password, then you will be able to book a ticket there, but you have to pay your payment during some certain time, otherwise it will be available for others again.