Train tickets to be sold online in December

November 18, 2014 | 09:11

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The Viet Nam Railway Corporation (VNR) will sell tickets online starting December 1.

Passengers buy tickets at Sai Gon Railway Station. The online booking system set up by the Viet Nam Railway Corporation will make it easier for passengers to buy tickets. - VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

Long lines during holidays have caused trouble for people trying to book train tickets. The online system should make it easier and fairer for passengers to buy tickets, particularly during busy times like Tet, officials said. Customers would not have to go to the station to purchase tickets - they could do so from any internet-capable device.

Because people could buy tickets online from anywhere – home, work, a cafe – long lines wouldn't be an issue, said VNR Deputy Director General at a meeting held yesterday.

The website would provide detailed instructions for passengers, and allow them to select their railroad cars and seats, Doan Duy Hoach, deputy director general of VNR, said yesterday at a meeting.

The online system would require passengers to provide full personal information and their Identity Card numbers to prevent fraud, he said.

The system can handle two million customers at a time. Children, students and seniors will get discounts of 50 per cent, 10 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively.

Train transport accounts for 0.5 per cent of the total passenger transport market, and 1 percent of total freight transport. The sector plans to raise the rates to 13 percent of passenger transport and 14 percent of freight transport by 2020.

Tickets will be sold at and www.vetau.com.vn. Passengers can pay online, or with cash or credit at the station as usual.

VNS

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