Online payment firm Alipay, owned by e-commerce company Alibaba Group, has won the bid to be the third-party payment partner for railway tickets, the China Railway Investment Corp announced on its website Thursday.
Other bidders and interested parties can send written objections to the railway investment arm from Thursday to Saturday, the company said.
The decision means people will soon be able to buy railway tickets through Alipay. Until then, people can pay online through the official railway ticketing website 12306.cn with bank cards from major Chinese banks such as Bank of China and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.
It was reported last year that the 12306.cn website cost 300 million yuan ($48.9 million) to create, but its service is not optimal, with network congestion frequently appearing during peak travel times.
Copyright ©1999-2011 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
