Open the online train ticketing market to more websites

Jd.com recently gave up selling train tickets online, making 12306.com the only online agency selling train tickets. A column in People's Daily asks, "Why not open the market so that more can benefit from the competition?" (excerpts below)

After less than a month in the online ticketing market, jd.com stopped selling train tickets. Actually, the website is not alone. Since last year, several websites have tried to enter the market but were unsuccessful.

The reason is simple: They cannot get authorization from the China Railway Corporation, the newly founded State-owned railway enterprise.

Since they can't make a profit on train tickets alone, they depend on upselling other services such as travelers' insurance policies.

Currently, 12306.com is the only private company authorized by the State to sell train tickets.

The monopoly has caused inconveniences to both the people and the agency itself.

As the website sees up to 1.5 billion visitors on a single day during peak time, customers often have to wait a long time.

Heavy visitor traffic has even caused the site to crash.

But the China Railway Corporation refuses to open up the market, a move that would undoubtedly break the monopoly of 12306.com and give competitors a piece of the train ticket pie.

Although that could also cause ticket prices to go up, it could open online markets for other services.

And with more services offered online, the railway could very possibly increase its share in freight transport.

In summary, opening up the online train ticketing market will make the pie bigger, thus benefiting all.