Chongqing railway department will launch a phone booking service for train tickets. The service will first be tested in ticket agencies and then gradually be extended to ticket booths to make it more convenient for the public to purchase tickets, Chongqing Evening News reported.
The first 66 ticket agencies involved are due to start their test sales in Chongqing. Citizens need only call the agency and pay a booking fee, then they can pick up their ticket at a specified place and time. In due course people will be able to make payments via the banking system once the process has been trialed.
"Once the phone ticketing service is successful in the ticket agencies, ticket booths in the stations will also gradually adopt the service as circumstances allow," an official of Chongqing railway department said, adding that the implementation plans are ready. The new process will ensure convenience for the public and prevent illegitimate ticket touting.
During the peak travel period of the 2009 Spring Festival, 60 percent of passengers, a total of 3.55 million people, booked tickets via telephone in south China's Guangdong Province. The number of tickets booked by phone has surpassed the volume of sales at ticket windows. Currently China's Ministry of Railways is considering further ticket-booking services such as phone and Internet ticketing, and is asking for suggestions from all interested parties. "Once a convenient ticketing service is validated, we will implement it as quickly as we can," Chongqing railway department said.