Originally Posted by
mosburger
These offices are located in several wards of Shanghai. I think opening times are typically from 8am to 6 or 8pm.
What is best about them is the absence of the lengthy queues when buying rail tickets at the station.
Btw, this very nice concept has now been adopted at least by Deutsche Bahn in Frankfurt and Cologne. Probably by some McKinsey consultant who took a holiday trip to China and then sold the idea to them for big bucks.

Why is it better? With DB, can't you just buy your tickets online and print it out yourself, either at home or at a station kiosk?
I think these small ticket offices are really contractors in China. It functions like small business. You have to pay big bucks to the Ministry of Railway to earn the right to sell tickets. And you have to have hard connections, as this business is quite profitable.