The government crackdown on railway ticket scalpers was intensified yesterday with Guangdong railway police offering rewards of up to 500,000 yuan ($73,200) for tip-offs on scalpers.

Liu Zhuandu, political commissar of Guangdong railway police force, said the move would encourage more people to report scalpers to police and help maintain order.

"Railway police are now trying their best to prevent scalpers from operating in order to ensure a safe and smooth flow of passengers during the Spring Festival travel rush (Jan 11 to Feb 19)," Liu said.

The National Development and Reform Commission estimates the total number of rail, road and air journeys during the 40-day peak travel period would be 2.32 billion, up 3.5 percent over last year.

Getting a railway ticket becomes a big problem during Spring Festival because of shortage of trains and the inadequate railway network.

Most people have blamed scalpers for the dearth of tickets at railway counters during the peak travel season, which sees the largest movement of people in the world.

But the railway ministry has intensified its crackdown on scalpers this year and arrested 2,390 of them and seizing 78,200 tickets from their possession.

In Beijing, four scalpers have been arrested, 68 detained and 232 released after paying a fine, a Ministry of Public Security press release said yesterday.

In Guangdong, railway police have detained 1,783 suspected scalpers since a special campaign was launched on Dec 10, and seized 13,312 tickets worth 1.59 million yuan ($233,000).

Guangdong police seized more than 60,000 fake railway tickets, too, after busting several gangs making counterfeit tickets in the past few weeks.

Five scalpers, who used Internet to sell tickets, were arrested in Chengdu last week. The local railway police said it was the first case involving the Internet to have been cracked.

(China Daily January 20, 2009)