Customers crash online railway ticket system

The online railway ticket system collapsed for more than an hour and its website also released private customer information on Saturday as passengers rushed to buy for the first day of Chinese new year travel.

During the 40-day chunyun Chinese new year transportation period starting January 16, tens of millions of people travel between workplace and their hometown in the largest annual human migration in the world.

A woman told The Beijing News she tried to buy train tickets online 8 am Saturday. After failing at the first hurdle, "when I tried to log on again, the ticket system collapsed," she said.

The site collapsed for more than an hour in the morning, The Beijing News reported. Too many people logged onto the website at the same time, technicians from Qihoo 360 told the paper, slowing the system.

Net user Lurenjia revealed on the website WooYun on Saturday that he could access strangers' account information by logging on to the railway ticket system.

Qihoo 360 suggested Net users stop using the website about 3 pm Saturday as the railway website responded wrongly.

The customer service department of the railway ticket website said that although some customers alleged they could not log on the website, after examination they found the website was in working order.

The China Railway Corporation responded on its official Weibo that because there were too many visits on the first day, customers suffered an abnormal experience, and the railway department had now optimized the website service.

Currently the website, railway stations, outlets, vending machines and mobile phone channels are all in normal operation.

Because of the convenience, the online ticket system has proven popular.

Lian Jianwen, from the city of Linfen, Shanxi province, who runs a small restaurant in the city of Baoding, Hebei province, said that it was his second year buying tickets online for Spring Festival. "Many migrant workers in Baoding would choose to buy tickets through the Internet and telephone."

Li Yanjun, an official from Baoding railway station, said that about 70 percent of passengers would buy tickets via the Internet or phone.