Passengers buy train tickets at a ticket office of Nanjing Railway Station, in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu province, January 10, 2010. [File Photo: Xinhua]
China UnionPay and the national railway authority have entered a strategic partnership to implement a domestic electronic payment network so that passengers can purchase train tickets with their bank cards via telephone, Internet and ticket vendors.
The Beijing News has reported that the two parties will cooperate by sharing network and client resources and updating other channels. Passengers will be able to purchase tickets online using UnionPay bank cards, China's sole inter-bank payment platform.
A new railway IC card will be introduced with the aim of speeding up ticket purchase and check-in procedures, while also enabling passengers to buy food and drinks on the train. There is also talk of a VIP and membership benefits program for card holders.
According to the report, a pilot program implemented during the World Expo in Shanghai allowing passengers in the Yangtze River delta area to purchase tickets with their UnionPay bank cards has performed well.
According to an earlier report, the railway regulation authority is already negotiating the ticketing platform with five banks.
Liu Hongrun, the deputy director of the Railway Ministry's financial department, confirmed that the online booking plan is on track and expected to launch by the end of 2010.
Liu did not offer any further details regarding the project.
The Beijing branch of the railway authority implemented an online booking site in 2000, but the site could not accommodate an upsurge in Web traffic during peak travel seasons. Online booking and inquiry services were shut down in 2008.
The Shanghai railway authority launched a similar Web site last year, which was also quickly shut down due to a number of complaints about the unstable booking system.
