The Ministry of Railways launched a special campaign last December to crack down on train ticket touts or "scalpers" who demand a price higher than face value from passengers. As of Tuesday, 2,110 touts had been apprehended.

 

Jiang Zhanlin, director of the ministry's Public Security Bureau, said since December 20 last year, the ministry has set up the "Blue Shield Action" headquarters to help railway police nationwide find and punish ticket "sharks."

 

The drive is to last until February 22 when the Spring Festival travel season ends.

 

In an interview with the Beijing-based China Youth Daily, he said the campaign, which is the largest ever of its kind, covers all the railway stations. The ministry has mobilized railway police and even their kitchen staff to conduct 160,000 spot checks.

 

During this year's 40-day-long Spring Festival travel season, rail passenger flow on the mainland is expected to hit 2.042 billion individual trips, up 3.1 percent from the previous year.

 

Jiang said the campaign stands out in four ways:

 

It is the longest, lasting 63 days; it is an overall arrangement emphasizing railway stations and trains in all areas, unlike the previous crackdown that focused only on Beijing in north China, Guangzhou in south China, Chengdu and Chongqing in southwest China; its spheres of investigation are expanded; and passengers are encouraged to help nab suspects.

 

"The final few days before the Spring Festival mark a peak period for ticket touts because they will suffer a financial loss if they don't sell their stock," Jiang said.

 

However, Jiang said it is impossible for the railway police to completely rid the system of touts because of the huge demand that outnumbers supply.

 

"The only way is to increase space on trains to accommodate everyone," Jiang said.

 

(China Daily January 26, 2006)