CRC rivals ready to leave the station

The 2014 Spring Festival travel rush is just around the corner. On the first day of train ticket sales for the holiday period though, China's official rail booking website, 12306.cn, left many disappointed. Slow log-in times, frequent site crashes and incorrect personal information were among the most common problems identified by users.

The China Railway Corporation (CRC), which operates the website, blamed these issues on a large surge of new users visiting the site for the first time. This excuse seems pretty unconvincing though, since the online booking system was launched ahead of the 2012 Spring Festival, which means that travelers have already had two years to get familiar with it.

The real problem is the CRC's monopoly. Several commercial websites with sufficient bandwidth, technical capabilities and management expertise have expressed an interest in online train ticket booking. Why not give them an opportunity? They may offer a win-win solution to China's perennial travel rush woes - travelers might find it easier to hit the rails and the CRC could cut back on the cost of operating its booking platform.