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Hu's call for rail 'brainstorm' may bring Spring Fest relief
Source: Xinhua |
January 16, 2009, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PRESIDENT Hu Jintao has ordered the Ministry of Railways to "brainstorm" measures to help train passengers survive the Spring Festival travel peak. And it looks like he got the rail chief's full attention.
"This year's Spring Festival is facing a tougher supply-demand imbalance, and the ministry has to brainstorm measures to promote passenger convenience," Hu was quoted as saying yesterday in a message on the ministry's Website. "The ministry has to ensure smooth and safe transportation during the peak season."
In response, Wang Zhiguo, vice minister of railways, said the ministry had ordered the suspension of cargo services to allow room for more passenger trains in the busiest southern and eastern regions.
Short-distance passenger trains will be suspended in favor of more long-distance trains. Hard-sleeper berths will be changed to seats to accommodate more people.
The ministry will also transfer passenger trains serving northeast and northwest areas to southern and eastern China and upgrade temporary trains, especially those for students and migrant workers.
Meanwhile, tickets will be sold only through the railway ticket network, except for group tickets for students and migrant workers.
Hotels, restaurants and travel agencies have been ordered to halt ticket bookings, and major stations will be open for 24-hour sales, according to the ministry.
Sales staff are prohibited from buying tickets for others.
Wang apologized to passengers who reacted angrily to a video posted online that showed a saleswoman at the Beijing Railway Station printing 130 tickets for trains running to cities in the northeast. Passengers accused the station of scalping tickets.
"The action was immediately investigated, and we found it was part of advance preparations to save time for passengers," Wang said.
He said the ministry pledged to crack down on scalpers and strictly supervise booking systems.
A nationwide campaign was launched in December to combat ticket counterfeiting and scalping. As of yesterday, authorities had detained 2,393 people in 2,009 scalping investigations and seized 78,237 tickets, among which 60,000 were counterfeit.
MOR spokesman Wang Yongping said insufficient transport capacity resulted in the short supply, and scalpers made the situation worse.
He said the ministry had arranged a record 2,208 temporary trains, 253 more than in the same period last year, and more were yet to come into service. But the supply was still far from enough.
Almost 188 million people are expected to travel by train in the holiday season, up 8 percent from last year. Daily rail traffic will grow by 340,000 people to a record average high of 4.7 million.
From January 1 to 10, the number of passengers leaving Beijing increased 29.4 percent year on year. The figure for Shanghai was 22.7 percent and Guangzhou 25.8 percent.
The Spring Festival holiday begins on January 25, but the travel rush started on January 11.
"This year's Spring Festival is facing a tougher supply-demand imbalance, and the ministry has to brainstorm measures to promote passenger convenience," Hu was quoted as saying yesterday in a message on the ministry's Website. "The ministry has to ensure smooth and safe transportation during the peak season."
In response, Wang Zhiguo, vice minister of railways, said the ministry had ordered the suspension of cargo services to allow room for more passenger trains in the busiest southern and eastern regions.
Short-distance passenger trains will be suspended in favor of more long-distance trains. Hard-sleeper berths will be changed to seats to accommodate more people.
The ministry will also transfer passenger trains serving northeast and northwest areas to southern and eastern China and upgrade temporary trains, especially those for students and migrant workers.
Meanwhile, tickets will be sold only through the railway ticket network, except for group tickets for students and migrant workers.
Hotels, restaurants and travel agencies have been ordered to halt ticket bookings, and major stations will be open for 24-hour sales, according to the ministry.
Sales staff are prohibited from buying tickets for others.
Wang apologized to passengers who reacted angrily to a video posted online that showed a saleswoman at the Beijing Railway Station printing 130 tickets for trains running to cities in the northeast. Passengers accused the station of scalping tickets.
"The action was immediately investigated, and we found it was part of advance preparations to save time for passengers," Wang said.
He said the ministry pledged to crack down on scalpers and strictly supervise booking systems.
A nationwide campaign was launched in December to combat ticket counterfeiting and scalping. As of yesterday, authorities had detained 2,393 people in 2,009 scalping investigations and seized 78,237 tickets, among which 60,000 were counterfeit.
MOR spokesman Wang Yongping said insufficient transport capacity resulted in the short supply, and scalpers made the situation worse.
He said the ministry had arranged a record 2,208 temporary trains, 253 more than in the same period last year, and more were yet to come into service. But the supply was still far from enough.
Almost 188 million people are expected to travel by train in the holiday season, up 8 percent from last year. Daily rail traffic will grow by 340,000 people to a record average high of 4.7 million.
From January 1 to 10, the number of passengers leaving Beijing increased 29.4 percent year on year. The figure for Shanghai was 22.7 percent and Guangzhou 25.8 percent.
The Spring Festival holiday begins on January 25, but the travel rush started on January 11.
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