Passengers taking the intercity rail between Shenzhen and Guangzhou no longer need to purchase paper tickets.

Instead they can pay by scanning the QR code when leaving stations along the line starting yesterday, the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush, according to an announcement by Guangshen Railway Co. Ltd.

With the help of the Alipay app, passengers can scan the Guangshen Intercity QR Code “广深城际扫码通” and follow the instructions to complete the facial recognition and ID verification. They can scan the Alipay payment code at the turnstiles to enter the stations and then pay for their fare with Alipay when they leave their destination stations, which include Guangzhou, Guangzhou East, Dongguan, Changping, Zhangmutou, Pinghu and Shenzhen.

Foreigners, and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan compatriots, can also use the service, but they first need to register at verification machines at the railway stations using their passports or travel permits.

After entering the waiting hall, the travelers will receive a message on their phone with information on the latest train schedule and seat number. The system pre-deducts the fare for a second-class seater for the full trip. After the passenger leaves the destination, the system will deduct the actual cost. The fare for a trip from Shenzhen to Guangzhou is 79.5 yuan (US$11.70).

The use of the technology is expected to save time for passengers by bypassing the need to line up to purchase tickets at counters.

It will improve the efficiency of the intercity rail, said to be one of the busiest intercity rails in the Greater Bay Area, which has departures at 20-minute intervals. The tech also prevents ticket scalping. The QR-code payment feature based on Alipay technologies is widely used in public transport systems in more than 120 cities in China. Guangzhou-Shenzhen Intercity Railway is the first railway in China to adopt QR-code payment.