As the Spring Festival travel season entered the fourth day yesterday, a peak of ticket refund preceded the peak of railway passenger flow which is yet to come.
The data provided by the Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Railways show that as many as 460,000 train tickets were refunded daily nationwide in the first three days of the Spring Festival travel season.
Spokesman of Beijing Railway Station Xie Jingyi said a lot of travelers who booked tickets through the Internet or phone started to apply for ticket alteration or refund because of changes in their travel route.
One of the major reasons for the refund wave is that many travelers have booked a ticket ahead of schedule to “prepare for the worst” or have booked multiple tickets because of uncertain holiday arrangement.
Although the maximum pre-sale period of train ticket of this year is eight days longer than that of last year, many travelers still worried about ticket shortage, therefore they bought a less-wanted ticket as a safeguarding measure and will refund it when they get the preferred tickets.
An official from Beijing West Railway Station said that because of the longer pre-sale period this year, many travelers successfully bought the ticket to return home through the Internet or telephone booking system. However, many travelers did not get their preferred tickets because of short of supply.
The official said: "Some travelers who wanted to buy a berth only got a hard seat ticket; others who wanted to take the express train only bought the ticket of temporary passenger train; still others have not bought a ticket for their planned date. Moreover, a small number of travelers changed their route because of temporary reasons." As a result, every day nearly 100,000 tickets are refunded at Beijing West Railway Station.
Read the Chinese version: 北京地区日均退10万张火车票; Source: Beijing Times
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