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Another holiday, another railway headache
Source: Xinhua |
September 26, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
EVEN with an expanded rail network and upgraded computer systems, Chinese travelers still find it difficult to buy tickets for travel during national holidays.
The upcoming extended "Golden Week" holiday, which starts on Sunday and runs until October 7, encompassing the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, is the latest test for railway authorities.
The Ministry of Railways has upgraded its ticket booking website, 12306.cn, which opened late last year. However, it has been sharply criticized after crashing periodically amid fielding hundreds of millions of page views ahead of the holiday season.
One particular subject of complaint is the "queuing" - often, even after users submit orders, a reminder pops up saying they have to wait for half an hour to find out whether the orders are finalized, and there is no guarantee of success.
One Weibo comment likened booking a ticket on the website to climbing Mt Everest.
Passengers find it hard to understand why the website, with a reported investment of 330 million yuan (US$49 million), fails to function as efficiently as those of major online retailers handling a similar number of visits.
Questions have been raised over whether corruption has hamstrung the website project, an indication of the public's lack of confidence in the transparency of railway departments.
One rule peculiar to the Chinese railway system and widely believed to be the reason for the difficulty in obtaining tickets is that passengers are only allowed to start purchasing tickets 10 days ahead of the departure date, which always triggers a rush to booking sites on the first day that they become available.
Unlike sales of air tickets in China, train tickets may only be bought at agents designated by the ministry and its official booking website.
Loosening the monopoly and allowing professional online ticket agents to compete for the business is believed to be the key to solving the problem.
The ministry has given various reasons why it has not been able to "open up" ticket distribution to competitors, citing management difficulties and technical barriers, but critics say it needs to work hard on its own distribution channel, probably by learning from counterparts in developed countries.
Critics say that repeated complaints whenever major holidays arrive can only undermine the public's opinion of the capabilities and credibility of the railway authorities.
The upcoming extended "Golden Week" holiday, which starts on Sunday and runs until October 7, encompassing the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, is the latest test for railway authorities.
The Ministry of Railways has upgraded its ticket booking website, 12306.cn, which opened late last year. However, it has been sharply criticized after crashing periodically amid fielding hundreds of millions of page views ahead of the holiday season.
One particular subject of complaint is the "queuing" - often, even after users submit orders, a reminder pops up saying they have to wait for half an hour to find out whether the orders are finalized, and there is no guarantee of success.
One Weibo comment likened booking a ticket on the website to climbing Mt Everest.
Passengers find it hard to understand why the website, with a reported investment of 330 million yuan (US$49 million), fails to function as efficiently as those of major online retailers handling a similar number of visits.
Questions have been raised over whether corruption has hamstrung the website project, an indication of the public's lack of confidence in the transparency of railway departments.
One rule peculiar to the Chinese railway system and widely believed to be the reason for the difficulty in obtaining tickets is that passengers are only allowed to start purchasing tickets 10 days ahead of the departure date, which always triggers a rush to booking sites on the first day that they become available.
Unlike sales of air tickets in China, train tickets may only be bought at agents designated by the ministry and its official booking website.
Loosening the monopoly and allowing professional online ticket agents to compete for the business is believed to be the key to solving the problem.
The ministry has given various reasons why it has not been able to "open up" ticket distribution to competitors, citing management difficulties and technical barriers, but critics say it needs to work hard on its own distribution channel, probably by learning from counterparts in developed countries.
Critics say that repeated complaints whenever major holidays arrive can only undermine the public's opinion of the capabilities and credibility of the railway authorities.
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