12306 reportedly blocks 1.056 million tickets sold by “ticket‑snatching” software

What happened

It has been reported that China State Railway Group (中国国家铁路集团)’s ticketing platform 12306 has rejected 1.056 million tickets issued by third‑party “ticket‑snatching” software since May Day ticket sales opened. The figure was disclosed to reporters by the 12306 technical centre and cited by IT Home (IT之家) and The Paper (澎湃新闻). The clampdown is aimed at preventing malicious automated scraping and unfair access that have long frustrated ordinary travellers.

How 12306 responded

According to the report, 12306 strengthened login authentication for 467,000 abnormal accounts and applied control measures to 2.988 million payment accounts. It put 5.64 million transactions into a slow processing queue and outright rejected 704,000 transactions, resulting in the 1.056 million tickets being refused. Strong numbers. Clear intent. The railway authority says these steps have effectively curtailed non‑normal access by third‑party scalping tools.

Holiday capacity and why timing matters

Railway authorities also said they will add direct night high‑speed services on major corridors — including Beijing‑Shanghai, Beijing‑Guangzhou and Beijing‑Harbin — around the May Day peaks, with an average of roughly 700 extra daily trains during the busiest nights. Some trains will go on sale seven days before departure, others five, a staggered pre‑sale designed to reduce the risk that early sales lead to cancellations from bad weather or other disruptions. The measures reflect Beijing’s broader push to tighten platform governance and protect consumer access on critical public services.