Railway stations in China are usually named by a place name, which can be the name of a city or a district or county, and even a village or street. If there are multiple stations in the same area, it is often distinguished by the location words (east, west, south or north) in the early days, but it should be noted that for some reasons, the orientation relationship between these stations and the station with the city center may not be consistent with the actual orientation, for example, the "East station" in some cities is in the west of the city. Or the "North Station" of some cities is in the south of the central Station, so the station name is only regarded as the name in the later CR, which can be seen from the English translation of the station. In the early stage, the orientation is directly translated, such as "北京南站" is translated as "Beijing South" station, and now the entire station name was transliterated as "Beijingnan" to ignore the actual station location.

There are also some stations directly named in the form of the city name plus the name of the actual location, which is easier to understand, such as Beijing Daxing, Shanghai Hongqiao, Shenzhen Pingshan and so on. There are also some different Chinese place names whose English transliterations are the same, such as "苏州(Suzhou)" and "宿州(Suzhou)", which need to be distinguished by Chinese characters.

If you can not estimate the specific arrival time at the station, you can buy tickets for adjacent trains after arriving at the station, which can avoid waiting in the waiting room for a long time or missing trains due to unexpected situations on the way to the station. If it is not the peak passenger flow day, it is usually no problem to do so. There are many CR stations in larger cities, and they may be tens of kilometers apart. You need to make sure that the station you are going to is the departure station on the ticket. The station can be easily found through the map App. It should also be noted that the station may have many gates, which are different from the ticket gate, and some gates are hundreds of meters away from the ticket gate you need to reach (similar to the airport). Some CR stations are connected to the subway stations and can be walked directly inside the station. Other CR stations are connected with the local airport and can be found by signs.

CR stations in larger cities are often magnificent, and some even belong to iconic buildings. If this is not a place you often go, it is also a good choice to take a photo. However, the distance between the station and the ancillary facilities may be far away. For example, some stations need to walk a long distance to reach the station after getting off the bus or taxi, so the time required should be fully considered in advance.

Because there are many CR stations, the process of entering the waiting room of different stations is not necessarily the same.

For stations that are open 24 hours a day, the ticket office is usually independent from the waiting area, which is not allowed to be entered by people who have not purchased tickets, and will only be allowed to enter after purchasing tickets and passing identity verification (to avoid homeless people staying at the station overnight).

Process: security check → identity verification & ticket verification → waiting for the trains → ticket check at ticket gate → boarding.

For stations closed at night, people without tickets are allowed to enter the waiting area.

You can accompany your relatives and friends until the departure time approaches and you can only visit the station or even go for a shop, but you are not allowed to pass through the ticket gate before purchasing tickets.

Process: security check → waiting for the trains → identity verification & ticket verification by the ticket gate → boarding.

But such stations sometimes need to verify your identity information when entering the waiting room but ticket is unnecessary.

Identity verification and ticket verification are mostly carried out through automatic equipment, provided that you have electric-identifiable certificate of identification. If not, you can show your certificate of identification to the staff for manual verification. If you cannot provide a valid identity certificate when riding, you can apply for a temporary identity certificate at the station window or in the railway 12306 mobile App, but the number of times you can apply will be limited.

For most stations, you need to pass the necessary security checks, all your luggage needs to be pass through a X-ray scanned, and the staff will also scan your whole body by handheld device. Liquid drinks are allowed to be brought into the station or onto the trains if it passed the security checks. Subways stations or airports conneted with CR stations in some larger cities are exempt from re-security checks when entering CR stations, because you have already done so when entering them. As it may take more time to carry out security check, you may need to arrive at the station early during the peak passenger flow, otherwise you may not arrive at the ticket gate on time and board the train smoothly.

The waiting room has some seats for rest, and most station waiting rooms provide toilets and drinking water. Larger stations provide catering services, while some large stations provide shopping experiences similar to mall. You can buy food and drinks at the station, as the selection range at the station is wider than on the train. If you have a business seat ticket, you can also enter an independent business lounge (not provided in some small stations), and enjoy free catering service, comfortable waiting environment and superior guidance service. Unless necessary, don not leave again after entering the waiting room, because re-entering after leaving still needs to carry out identity verification and security check according to the process.

CR station usually opens the ticket gate 10-15 minutes before the train leaves, and closes the ticket gate 2-5 minutes before departure. You need to pass the ticket gate within the specified time. If you arrive at the station in advance, you need to wait in the waiting room. Some stations have dozens of ticket gates, and the distance between them is far away. You need to determine the appropriate ticket gate. When purchasing tickets, the location of the ticket gate will usually be displayed on your app or printed certificate. The display screen set at a prominent position in the station will also display the location of the ticket gate. Some larger stations also have ticket gates close to the subway stations, which are no rest chairs around these ticket gates, so they only open when they are close to the train departure.

For tickets purchased through the Internet and at station windows and ticket vending machines, there is no need to use the ticket or receive to pass through the ticket gate at any time. Whether it is a one-way ticket, a time ticket or a time ticket, if you have a certificate that can pass through the automatic ticket gate, touch the corresponding position of the gate with the certificate. If you use stored-value cards, you need to swipe your card at the corresponding position. If you have no certificate, you need to check the ticket through the QR code in the railway 12306 app after applying for a temporary identity certificate.

When the gate is open, you need to pass as soon as possible, and take care of your luggage to avoid being caught or blocked by the gate. Before passing through the gate, you still need to pay attention to the platform where you will board the train, although you can still see it in many places after passing through the ticket gate.

Almost all CR lines and stations have cross-line trains, which travel in many directions, the trains departing from the same platform may travel in the opposite direction. You need to confirm whether the trains on the platform are really you need to take. Pay attention to the gap between the train and the platform when getting on the train, and avoid personal belongings falling under the platform.

If you buy a ticket for a reserved seat, after arriving at the platform, line up at the position of the car number posted on the platform floor or displayed on the display screen according to your car number. Please do not cross the warning line at the edge of the platform to avoid danger. When the train arrives, make sure that the train number displayed on the train is your number.

If you buy a ticket for a non-reserved seat, please line up in areas with fewer people. Please wait for the passengers to leave the train and then board the train.

Find your seat and properly place your luggage After boarding the train. Items with large volume or weight need to be placed in the designated storage area for large items, and other small items can be placed in the overhead luggage rack and placed safely. The small table in front of the seat or the folding table in the armrest has limited load-bearing capacity, so do not place out-of-standard items on it. Please hold on your food or drink without lid , and put it in your stomach as soon as possible to avoid overturning.

After boarding the train, please pay attention to the information of the stop of the train at any time. The broadcast and display screen in the train are in Chinese and English to broadcast the information.

Short-distance trains basically do not provide food, some short-distance trains even not provide drinking water, and high-grade seats of short-distance trains usually do not provide free meals.

Long-distance trains provide free hot drinking water, some high-grade trains provide disposable paper cups, and other trains need your own containers. If you need drinking water in normal atmospheric temperature,  you need to pay extra for  bottled water, unless you have a high-grade seat ticket. A bottle of water or drink will be provided free for the first-class and business-class seats of the long-distance G class trains. Long-distance trains do not provide staple food during non-meal hours, only snacks are sold. Some snacks will be provided free in most cases for the first-class and business-class; the business seat of the long-distance train can provide free meals at the meal time. The content of food will vary greatly according to different regions and operators, which may not satisfy everyone"s taste. Therefore, you can buy food at or outside the station in advance and take it to the train, or you can book food through the 12306 app before getting on the train, and the booked food will be delivered to the seat at the designated station.

All EMU trains provide squatting pans and toilets, while some low-grade trains in traditional trains do not provide toilets. Toilet paper is usually provided, but long-distance trains may run out on the way, so it is recommended to bring some by yourself.

After you have boarded the train, if you are not satisfied with the current seat, and the high-grade seat on the train is still available, you can upgrade the seat. You need to make up the price difference before the seat grade. If you forcibly use the high-grade seat and refuse to make up the price difference, you will be judged as an illegal act and need to pay an additional fine.

If you are about to arrive at the station where you need to get off, please tidy up your belongings in advance and get ready to get off.

After getting off, look for the exit according to the signs. If you have already purchased a ticket for the next journey, look for the transfer channel. When leaving the station or transferring, you also need to use the ID card or stored-value card you used when entering the station to swipe on the corresponding position of the gate.

After you leave the exit ticket gate, you can continue to take the subway or the city railway. You can follow the signs without leaving and re-entering the station, otherwise the security check will be carried out again.

If you purchase a designated seat ticket (or a designated train number ticket), and you accidentally miss your train, if there are still tickets available for purchase with the same departure and destination on your departure day, you can get a free change, but you cannot modify your departure and destination. If the prices of other train tickets are different from yours, the additional part needs to be supplemented or refunded, The difference returned will be charged 20%. Unfortunately, if all the tickets for that day are sold, your ticket will be invalidated, unless you pay an additional 40% fee before 24:00 on the same day to change your ticket to the next day or the following days.. It should be noted that if you have already changed your ticket before missing the train, your ticket will also be invalidated.

If you use a one-way ticket, the actual station where you get off exceeds the farthest station you can reach when you buy the ticket, and you will not pass the ticket gate. You will ask to make up the excess price and pay an extra handling fee. Conversely, if you get off early than the station shown in the ticket, the later journey will be invalid. If the periodical ticket fails to travel within the prescribed scope, it shall be treated as no ticket, and it is necessary to make up the ticket again.