China's railway police have started a one-month campaign to combat train ticket "scalpers" on the recently opened Qinghai-Tibet railway. The service got underway on July 1. 

Expert teams from the Public Security Bureau of the Chinese Ministry of Railways have been sent to railway stations in Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Lanzhou, Xining and Lhasa, a railway official said.

Local railway police also strengthened their presence at the six railway stations to crack down on the ticket "scalpers". Fifteen tickets touts were punished in public on Monday morning in the square outside Xining Railway Station.

Sources said one of the 15 dealers, surnamed Qian, was adding 800 yuan (US$100) to the cost of a ticket to Lhasa.

While the cost of a basic coach ticket or "hard seat" from Xining to Lhasa is just 226 yuan (US$28.3) the price of "hard" and a "soft" sleeping berths are 523 yuan (US$65.5) and 810 yuan (US$101.4) respectively. The cost of a "hard seat" from Beijing to Lhasa is 389 yuan (US$48.6). The price of a "hard" and a "soft" sleeping berth are 813 yuan (US$101.6) and 1262 yuan (US$157.7). 

The Qinghai-Tibet railway operates services from five cities to Lhasa. Officials with the Ministry of Railways said that the campaign against illegal ticket sales would be stepped up and they'd attempt to schedule extra trains to Lhasa to meet the demand.

At present anyone buying tickets to Lhasa is limited to a maximum of three, said the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency July 25, 2006)