South China Begins Pilot Real-name Train Ticketing System

China's southern Guangdong Province has launched a pilot real-name train ticketing system as part of the country's efforts to curb ticket hoarding by scalpers.

Chen Xi has more.

Liu Chao, a migrant worker from China's southwestern Sichuan Province, bought a train ticket early this morning at the Guangzhou Railway Station.

He booked the ticket by phone at about 7 a.m., becoming the first user of the province's new real-name train ticketing system.

"It is quite convenient. It only took me about two minutes to get the ticket after I walked in the station."

The ID card number of Liu Chao was printed on the bottom left corner of his ticket. What he needs to do is to simply bring his card when he gets on the train on January 30th.

At present, train passengers can now book tickets through hotlines and pick them up from booths in railway stations or ticket agencies before midnight the day after they book them.

Huang Xin, head of passenger transport section under the Guangzhou Railway Group, says ticket inspectors will help passengers pass through checkpoints in less than half a minute between the end of January to February 4th, when nine stations in Guangdong adopt the system during the holiday season.

"We will make sure all checking facilities working smoothly before the 30th of this month. The checking procedure will only take about 20 seconds for passengers who hold the second-generation ID card."

He adds that in Guangzhou, 2,900 employees will be stationed at 310 ticket checkpoints in eight railway stations.

The real-name system is also scheduled to be adopted in Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Chongqing Municipality.

The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission forecasts some 210 million train trips will be made during the Spring Festival rush, 9.5 percent more than last year.

Chen Xi, CRI news.