Published : 2024-12-17
For those who often travel by high-speed rail in China, "12306" should be a familiar name, as it is the title of China Railway online ticketing platform, including a mobile app and a website. But what is the special meaning of this set of numbers?
12306 originated from service hotline number?
"12306" is actually the number of national unified railway customer service hotline. Many railway enthusiasts believe that the reason for naming the online platform the same as the hotline is, perhaps, to make it easier to remember.
It is believed that the hotline "12306" is centrally allocated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).
Most public service hotline numbers in China start with "123" and are five digits long.
For example, the hotline number for MIIT is "12300", and the Global Emergency Call Center for Consular Protection and Services hotline is "12308".
It's not just the railway department that uses a hotline number as a website title. The China Procuratorate's reporting hotline is 12309, and its website is named "12309 Procuratorial Service Centre".
Alibaba assisted in optimising 12306 website
The "12306 China Railway" website was launched in 2010, initially offering relatively simple services such as checking train schedules, fares, and ticket availability, and started selling e-tickets in 2011.
During the 2012 Spring Festival travel rush, the website system was nearly overwhelmed due to too many logged-in users and the impact of ticket-snatching software.
It was reported that the railway department invited technical staff from Alibaba to assist in optimising and improving the website, which resolved the issue.
Why seek help from Alibaba's technical staff? The most experienced in handling "massive spikes in traffic without crashing" would be Tmall and Taobao, which are fervently conducting the "Double Eleven" festival.
Read more: What other letters are there besides G and D for high-speed train numbers?
12306: World's largest online ticketing system by traffic
At the end of 2013, the 12306 mobile APP "Railway 12306" was launched for download, and the number of users has been increasing.
The service scope of "12306" has also been extended to ordering takeaway, booking hotel, car rental, etc.
Currently, "12306" has become the online ticketing platform which has the largest number of visits and transactions in the world.
During the 2024 Spring Festival travel rush, the platform's single-day peak traffic reached 83.88 billion visits, with a single-day peak ticket sales of 20.901 million. It is believed that the data will continue to be updated in the future.
Read more: Ticket prices as low as 1 yuan? Which letters are used for ordinary train numbers?
Read more: Why are there two numbers for the same train?
