Abstract: In order to solve the problems of imperfect operation experience and low success rate during the interaction between railway passengers and Ticket Vending Machine (TVM)owing to high cognitive load, Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) was put forward for the interaction design of TVM. By introducing CLT, the source of cognitive load during interaction was summarized. According to the current situation of TVM interaction design, the interaction design contained four parts: information structure design, transaction flow design, guidance design and function simplification. Firstly, balance the mutually restricted relations between width and depth in information structure design; and then design transaction flow diagram which suited passenger’ s pattern of behavior; thirdly, add navigation bar adjusting to passengers’ cognition rule; finally, delete redundant functions of low priority. An interaction design plan of TVM based on CLT was presented.