I used a popular train ticket booking service to get train tickets from Shanghai Hongqiao train station to Hangzhou on Sept 21. They are advising me to arrive 2 hours prior to the train's departure (only 1 hour train ride) due to crowding around the time of the "Chinese National holidays". My understanding was that this was in October, however.

Can anyone advise whether 2 hours in advance is really necessary when we are just picking up the tickets from an internet order? It seems extreme but we'll do it if we really need to.