The Russian Railways (RZD) announced today that passengers of Sapsan train can buy onboard services and souvenirs with WeChat Pay and AliPay just like they do it anywhere else.
According to RZD’s statement, all Sapsan trains have been equipped to accept payments through Sendy, the provider of WeChat Pay and AliPay systems in Russia.
The only thing the passenger needs to pay for snacks, coffee, meal or souvenir in Sapsan is a smartphone with an electronic wallet of any of these two systems. Scanning a QR-code will get the payment processed in seconds, which allows the passenger to save on currency exchange commission.
In Sapsan you can pay with cash or bank cards.
In St. Petersburg, many souvenir shops, eateries and coffee shops also accept payment via WeChat Pay or AliPay.
RZD said 26,7000 Chinese tourists traveled in Sapsan in October 2019, up 17 percent to October 2018. Totally, in the first 10 months of 2019, 293,800 Chinese rode on Sapsans, nearly 5.8 percent of the whole ridership.
Earlier this year, RZD started to use UnionPay system for purchase of railway tickets.