Beijing's electronic railway ticket selling system, which malfunctioned for about three hours on Saturday morning since 8 a.m., has almost resumed normal operation.

Ticket selling speed once dropped markedly, causing the accumulation of large crowds.

The railway authorities said the system had almost returned to normal by 11 a.m., but the ticket selling speed is still a bit lower than usual.

"The system's ticket selling speed became slow at 8:00 a.m. The station staff responded quickly to appease stranded people, and keep the waiting order," said Yao Hongren, an official in the Beijing Western Railway Station.

Xinhua's reporter saw the ticket lobby at the station resumed normal order at 11:10 a.m. The stream of people with tickets in hand kept walking out of the room.

The system's malfunction also affected the Southern Railway Station at 8:00 a.m. causing stagnation of ticket selling there, according Xinhua's reporter at the site.

The railway authority said they were investigating the cause of the system failure.

(Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2008)