At Saigon Station (District 3), from early morning, hundreds of passengers gathered to wait to buy tickets, with about 200 people at peak times. The ticket sales system on the 2nd floor of the station with 8 counters operates continuously to serve the need to buy tickets directly. Although the railway industry has opened many different ticket sales channels such as through the website, e-wallet (MoMo, VNPay, ZaloPay, ViettelPay), mobile applications, ticket sales call centers, agents... many people still choose to go to Saigon Station to buy tickets.
Mr. Nguyen Van Binh (District 12) said: "I am not used to booking tickets online, so this morning I went to Saigon station to buy a ticket to Nam Dinh. A sleeper ticket of more than 3 million VND is quite expensive, but I chose to take the train because it is safer and more convenient when traveling with a small child."
By 10 a.m. on October 6, the total number of train tickets sold for the 2025 Lunar New Year had reached more than 26,000. Meanwhile, in the same period last year, only nearly 16,300 tickets were sold in the first two hours, showing that demand this year is higher.
According to Mr. Thai Van Truyen - General Director of Saigon Railway Transport Joint Stock Company, from October 1, the railway industry has stopped the "buy tickets, hold seats and pay later" feature when buying tickets online. Passengers now have to pay immediately when booking tickets to avoid virtual seat reservations.
To improve service quality, this year Tet trains will not sell extra seats. Many seat cars have been converted into sleeper compartments, reducing the number of seats but providing more comfort for passengers. Therefore, the total number of seats available during Tet is expected to be about 167,000 with 388 trains, a decrease of about 38,000 seats compared to last year.
This is one of the reasons why train ticket prices for Tet this year have increased by 4-5%. The longest route from Saigon to Hanoi has the highest ticket price of over 3.2 million VND, the lowest is over 2.2 million VND on peak days. In particular, there is a train with an open VIP compartment with only two beds, each bed costs 6.4 million VND, for passengers who want private space.
This year's Tet train schedule is scheduled from January 15 to February 16, 2025 (ie from December 16 to January 19 of the lunar calendar). There will be 22 pairs of trains running each day, including 9 pairs of Thong Nhat passenger trains (Saigon - Hanoi) and 13 pairs of regional trains (short trips to provinces and cities).
Currently, the railway industry prioritizes selling tickets for long routes to the North. Therefore, on some peak days from December 25 to 27, tickets from Ho Chi Minh City to central provinces such as Quang Ngai, Phu Yen, Binh Dinh... are almost sold out. In case of high demand, the railway industry will add more trains.
This Tet holiday, the railway industry will reduce ticket prices by 3% for trains departing from Saigon station on January 27, 2025 (December 28) with journeys of 1,000km or more. Passengers buying round-trip tickets will receive a 5% discount, students will receive a 20% discount depending on the train brand, travel time before and after Tet...
