Commentary

China Watch

Forum Digests

Columnists

Letters

Real names for railway tickets

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-19 07:35

The system for giving real names while buying railway tickets is not as complicated as some officials have described, says an article on the website www.qianlong.com. The following is an excerpt:

Zhang Shuguang, an official with the Ministry of Railway, told a press conference on Jan 15 that in the past several years some hoped that the real names could be used to buy railway tickets, but the checking of passengers' ID cards in the rail stations will make too many passengers gather at a certain point, causing risks of jostling and trampling in the squares, ticket counters or entrances of the railway stations .

As we know, the system of using real names has been adopted in many industries now in China such as banking and airlines. However, the call for using real names to buy railway tickets has yet to be answered. Of course, it is true as the official said, that using real names will cause some problems during the tight traffic rush, but these may not go to the extent of threatening the safety of passengers.

The system of using real names can mitigate the difficult situation faced by Chinese in buying railway tickets during traffic rush and in removing the opportunity for buying tickets with the help of railway insiders. It is thus the most effective method of cracking down on scalpers. In addition, it can cut the expenses of dispatching a large police force to clamp down on ticket touts.

As long as the railway administration can take the real names system seriously and upgrade the ticket selling system, passengers will not face risks and waste time in waiting for the ID checks.

(China Daily 01/19/2009 page4)