Traveling around China by high-speed rail is normally remarkably straightforward.
Then comes National Day Golden Week (国庆黄金周, Guóqìng Huángjīn Zhōu).
One traveler was planning to leave Beijing (北京, Běijīng) on October 5 and had already placed a Trip.com reservation request for two seats departing from Beijing Fengtai Railway Station (北京丰台站, Běijīng Fēngtái Zhàn).
They had even selected a backup train.
But was that enough during one of China’s busiest travel periods?
We put the question to the ChinaTravelBUG AI Travel Planner.
The Traveler’s Question
“I know travel during Golden Week can be extremely crowded.
For those who have traveled around October 5, can you share your experiences including reserving high-speed rail and the queue?
I have put in an order on Trip.com to reserve 2 seats from Beijing Fengtai station to a small city south of Beijing for October 5 with one backup train selected.
Just wondering what my likelihood of getting tickets successfully.”
AI Travel Planner Answers
This traveler is asking a very specific question: how risky is an October 5 train booking during China’s National Day holiday period? The answer is: October 5 is still a very busy travel day, so I would not rely on just one train plus one backup.
For two seats from Beijing Fengtai to a smaller city, the chances depend heavily on the destination, train frequency, departure time, and how many intermediate passengers are competing for the same inventory. A Trip.com reservation request is useful, but it doesn’t guarantee tickets before railway inventory is actually released.
I’d recommend:
- Add several acceptable trains, not merely one backup, if Trip.com allows it.
- Be flexible about departure time. Early/late trains may give you more possibilities than insisting on the most convenient departure.
- If available, consider alternative stations or a nearby destination station, provided the onward journey is sensible.
- Don’t make a tight, non-refundable arrangement at the destination that assumes this particular train will work.
- If the preferred trains sell out, keep checking. Availability can change as passengers cancel or adjust bookings.
As for the station itself, Beijing Fengtai can certainly be busy, but getting the ticket is the bigger issue than standing in a huge ticket queue. With an international passport linked to the booking, foreign travelers generally use their passport for railway travel rather than collecting an old-style paper ticket. I’d still arrive substantially earlier than you might for a normal European train journey because of security, finding the correct waiting area, and holiday crowds.
One useful way to think about Golden Week: China’s high-speed railway normally makes independent travel remarkably straightforward; during National Day, however, you’re competing with an enormous wave of domestic travel.
If you tell me the small city/station and roughly what time you want to leave Beijing, I can give you a much more useful assessment of the October 5 booking and possible Plan B routes.
ChinaTravelBUG Note
There are actually two different uncertainties hidden inside this question.
The first is:
Will Trip.com successfully get the tickets?
The second is:
If I get them, how difficult will Beijing Fengtai Railway Station be on October 5?
The first deserves more attention.
A reservation request placed before railway tickets officially go on sale should not be confused with an issued China Railway ticket.
A pre-order is a request to try to obtain the ticket when it becomes available—not a seat already being held for you.
That’s particularly important during Golden Week.
When Do China Train Tickets Actually Go on Sale?
China Railway’s official English-language 12306 information currently states that the railway ticket pre-sale period is 15 days, including the day of travel. (12306.cn)
But there’s another detail travelers often miss:
Not every station starts selling tickets at the same time of day.
China Railway uses different ticket-sale opening times for different stations.
That means a third-party service may accept your pre-order much earlier, but it cannot magically obtain a railway seat before the relevant inventory is released.
This is why travelers should distinguish between:
Pre-order submitted → Ticket sales open → Booking attempted → Ticket successfully issued
Only the last stage means you actually have the train ticket.
Why October 5 Is Still a Difficult Date
October 5 falls within China’s National Day holiday travel period.
Don’t assume that because the initial October 1 outbound rush has passed, the railway system has returned to normal.
During the holiday, enormous numbers of people travel for tourism, family visits and journeys between cities.
And demand can become intense again as travelers begin positioning themselves for their return journeys.
The scale is difficult to appreciate until you’ve seen the numbers.
During the 2025 National Day and Mid-Autumn holiday period, China’s railway system recorded 213 million passenger trips, with an average of more than 19 million passenger trips per day during the main holiday travel period. (english.www.gov.cn)
So October 5 is not a date when we’d casually assume:
“There will probably be another train.”
There may be.
But millions of other travelers are also moving.
Does Traveling to a Small City Make It Easier?
Not necessarily.
This is an interesting part of the traveler’s question.
You might assume:
Beijing → small city = low demand
But railway ticket availability doesn’t always work that simply.
A seat on that train may be useful not only to someone traveling to your destination, but also to passengers using overlapping sections of the route.
Train frequency matters too.
A major destination might have huge demand but dozens of services.
A smaller destination might attract fewer passengers but have far fewer suitable trains.
So without knowing the exact destination, we’d avoid giving a percentage chance of success.
“Small city” doesn’t automatically mean “easy ticket.”
One Backup Train Isn’t Much of a Backup During Golden Week
For an ordinary travel date, one preferred train plus one backup may be perfectly reasonable.
For October 5, we’d widen the net.
If your booking service permits it, consider:
- several departure times
- more than one acceptable train
- different seat classes if your budget allows
- another sensible Beijing departure station
- a nearby destination station with workable onward transportation
You don’t necessarily need to use any of those alternatives.
You’re simply increasing the number of ways the journey can succeed.
What If Everything Shows Sold Out?
Don’t immediately assume the trip is impossible.
China Railway operates an official waitlist (候补购票, hòubǔ gòupiào) system through 12306.
When eligible trains are sold out, passengers can submit waitlist requests. If tickets become available because other passengers cancel or railway capacity changes, the system can allocate them to waitlisted passengers.
China Railway has also expanded waitlist functionality over time, including increasing the number of trains and alternative options that can be included in waitlist orders. (english.www.gov.cn)
That doesn’t guarantee success.
But “sold out today” does not always mean “zero possibility of traveling.”
Keep checking rather than abandoning the journey immediately.
What About the Queue at Beijing Fengtai?
Beijing Fengtai Railway Station (北京丰台站, Běijīng Fēngtái Zhàn) is a major railway station.
During Golden Week, expect considerably more people than on an ordinary weekday.
But international travelers should understand that China’s railway system is no longer based around everyone collecting a paper ticket before boarding.
China Railway’s official guidance says passengers using passports and other identification documents that can be automatically read may use the relevant automated gates; passengers whose documents cannot be read automatically can use staffed channels. (12306.cn)
So if your ticket has been properly issued against your passport details, your main concerns at the station are more likely to be:
transport to the station → security → finding the waiting area → reaching the correct gate → boarding
rather than standing in an old-fashioned ticket-collection queue.
How Early Would We Arrive?
On an ordinary China high-speed rail journey, experienced travelers often become quite efficient at navigating stations.
Golden Week is not when we’d test how late you can arrive.
For an unfamiliar major station such as Beijing Fengtai during the National Day holiday, build in a generous buffer.
Remember that “train departs at 10:00” doesn’t mean you should be walking through the station entrance at 9:55.
You still need to:
- pass security
- navigate a large station
- identify your waiting area
- watch for boarding
- pass the ticket/passport gate
- reach the platform
And boarding gates close before departure.
The objective isn’t to spend half the morning sitting in the station.
It’s to remove one unnecessary source of stress from an already busy travel day.
ChinaTravelBUG Verification Note
Last verified: August 14, 2026
ChinaTravelBUG checked current China Railway information before publishing this article.
At the time of verification:
- China Railway states that the ticket pre-sale period is 15 days including the day of travel. (12306.cn)
- Ticket-sale opening times vary by railway station.
- China Railway operates an official waitlist system for sold-out trains.
- Passengers traveling with supported identification documents can use their identity document for railway travel rather than relying on a traditional paper ticket. (12306.cn)
- National Day remains one of China’s heaviest annual travel periods. During the 2025 National Day/Mid-Autumn holiday railway period, China recorded 213 million railway passenger trips. (english.www.gov.cn)
For an October 5, 2026 journey, travelers should check the exact ticket-release arrangements and current railway schedule when the booking window approaches.
Official railway information:
About This Traveler Question
This question was adapted from a real traveler discussion shared in a China travel community online.
Personal identifying details have been omitted.
It’s a useful question because “book China trains early” doesn’t really explain what a first-time traveler needs to know during Golden Week.
The traveler has already done something sensible:
They’ve planned ahead.
The remaining mistake would be assuming that submitting a reservation request means the problem has already been solved.
During an ordinary week, missing one train may simply mean choosing another.
During National Day Golden Week, flexibility itself becomes valuable.
During Golden Week, don’t just reserve early. Build several ways for the journey to work.
Taking China’s High-Speed Rail?
Not sure when your tickets will be released, whether your route is too risky during National Day Golden Week (国庆黄金周, Guóqìng Huángjīn Zhōu), or whether you should have a Plan B?
Tell the ChinaTravelBUG AI Travel Planner your exact departure station, destination, date and preferred travel time.
It can help you think through the journey before the ticket window opens.
Try the FREE ChinaTravelBUG AI Travel Planner.
