CHINA MOVES TO CHECK TRAIN TICKET SCALPING DURING NEW YEAR SEASON

By Vincent Low

BEIJING, Jan 21 (Bernama) -- The railways authority has taken various
measures to address fake train tickets and ticket scalping during the coming
Spring festival transport peak.

Political Department Director General of the Railways Ministry, Gao
Xiaobing, told the media at a special briefing Wednesday that this was to ensure
that those studying and working in cities a smooth and pleasant journey home to
celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Tiger on Feb 14.

The Spring festival transport peak is the 40-day period prior to and
following the Lunar New Year when many people will be travelling across the
country.

This year's peak period is from Jan 30 to March 10, when more than 210
million train travellers are expected.

Gao said: "We expect around 5.25 million people using the railway transport
daily and 5.5 million during the peak days."

"As usual, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Hangzhou will see a higher
volume of travellers before the new year, and a similar situation will happen in
Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang and Hunan after the new year," he said.

Gao said the ministry had made the purchasing of train tickets easier this
year by introducing early group ticket sales to students and migrant workers.

In order to curb train ticket scalping during the period, the Guangzhou and
Chengdu railways have introduced a "real name ticketing" pilot programme where
train tickets will be sold to individuals with their names printed on the ticket
to prevent scalpers from reselling the tickets at a higher price.
-- BERNAMA