China's railway police has begun a one-month campaign to combat
train ticket scalpers on the newly-operated Qinghai-Tibet railway.
Trains have been running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway since July
1.
Expert teams from the Public Security Bureau of the Chinese
Ministry of Railways have been sent to railway stations in Beijing,
Chengdu, Chongqing, Lanzhou, Xining and Lhasa, a railway official
said.
Local railway policemen also strengthened patrols at the six
railway stations to crack down on ticket scalpers.
Fifteen illegal tickets dealers were punished in public on
Monday morning in the square outside the Xining Railway
Station.
Sources said one of the 15 dealers, surnamed Qian, was adding
800 yuan (about 100 U.S. dollars) to the cost of each ticket to
Lhasa.
While the cost of a basic coach ticket or "hard seat" from
Xining to Lhasa is only 226 yuan, the cost of a "hard" sleeping
berth and a "soft" sleeping berth are 523 yuan and 810 yuan
respectively.
The Qinghai-Tibet railway opened a test service on July 1, with
services operating from five cities to Lhasa. Officials with the
Ministry of Railways said that the campaign against ticket scalpers
will be stepped up, and that the ministry will also try to schedule
extra trains to Lhasa to meet market demand.
Currently, a person buying tickets to Lhasa from the ticket
window is limited to a maximum of three tickets, said the
ministry.
(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2006)