3:26:25 PM | 7/8/2005
As the traditional Vietnamese Tet holiday approaches, the volume of passengers transported, especially by railway, rises sharply. To better serve the oncoming Lunar New Year, or Tet, Vietnam Railway Corporation (VNR) have brought out a solution to fight against railway ticket speculation, said Nguyen Huu Bang, General Director of VNR, at a press briefing held at the VNR Hanoi Branch on
New solution - Selling tickets via identity cards, passports
The solution aimed at helping passengers to save time, address injustices and smoothen their trips will be tested during its application from 20-28th of lunar December, 2004 and from 3-10th of lunar January, 2005.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Bang stressed several important points in the new method of selling railway tickets. Foreigners are required to have visas while locals must show identity cards and children need certificates of birth to be able to buy two tickets each. VNR’s sales department will record all identification numbers from travellers’ legal papers (ID cards, passports) to avoid speculation, which happened during previous year’s festivals.
If someone wants to buy more than two tickets, for their family for example, they are required to explain their reasons to the heads of the ticket offices. The purpose of the new way of selling tickets is to reduce crowds of people gathering at stations to buy tickets during the festival and is aimed at addressing the ticket speculation situation of the past.
This is considered a great endeavour of the railway sector in meeting growing travel demand during the Tet festival. Mr. Bang also affirmed that although VNR took full use of its facilities, the railway sector is only able to serve about 400,000 passengers during Tet, much lower than the demand. However, as in earlier years, members of enterprises, schools and the armed forces will be allowed to buy tickets ahead of schedule. VNR also employs modes of selling tickets via agents and brokerages. In particular, VNR still sells prioritised and discounted tickets to Vietnamese heroic mothers, students of SOS schools and students who are less than 10 years old. Students will be offered tickets with maximum discount of 25 per cent.
The railway sector has so far invested considerably in upgrading the quality of railways, accelerating speeds and reducing shocks and vibrations aboard trains. In the initial stage, VNR put into use a 10-km monolith-welded railway meeting international standards from Nong Son to Tra Kieu. This section saves 30 minutes of travelling time. A new station on the Hai Van Pass has also been put into operation to save time and boost traffic via the pass.
I terms of long-term development, VNR has imported 20 powerful new locomotives and has also overhauled old ones. They have built 56 new passenger carriages equipped with air-assisted springs, which make trains run smoother. LCD TVs and telephones have been installed on several carriages. Moreover, according to Mr. Bang, with the microspore toilet system, the VNR railway service has surpassed regional countries in quality and environment protection. During the Tet festival, VNR will officially put into use 11 pairs of trains and a pair in reserve. All trains will attach more carriages to meet a rise in the travelling demand by 10-15% compared with the 2004 Tet festival. So far, VNR has been investing money to replace small-sized railways which weigh 43 kg a meter with larger ones at 65 kg each per meter, the size currently used by many developed countries. VNR expects to put the SE1/2 express train into operation by December 2004. It will take 29 hours to complete a trip from
Vietnamese
