The prices of train tickets will not go up during the upcoming Spring Festival holidays as they have since 2002, the Ministry of Railways announced yesterday.

Wang Yongping, the ministry's spokesman, said yesterday that prices of train tickets for travel between February 3 and March 14 would be the same as usual.

"This will be true in the next few years, too," he said.

An hour after the news appeared on the Internet yesterday afternoon, many netizens had left posts on online forums applauding the decision.

"It is unexpected, wonderful news," said a netizen named Plastic Spiral who posted on the xinhuanet.com forum. "Thanks to the government for listening to the voice of the people. I will be happy even if the trains are crowded more than the previous years."

As one of the country's main means of intercity transportation, the country's railways are always crowded during the Spring Festival season.

Starting in 2002, the ministry tried to "streamline" the number of passengers by raising the prices of train tickets by up to 20 percent.

But the measure not only failed to work as expected, but also aroused a lot of criticism from the people.

Hao Jinsong, a 34-year-old law school student at China University of Political Science and Law, went as far as suing the ministry in January 2006 in a bid to stop it from raising the prices of tickets during the coming Spring Festival.

Hao Jinsong failed in two hearings.

In his latest effort, he wrote a letter to the ministry urging it not to increase the price of tickets during the coming Spring Festival, which falls on February 18, according to a report in the Beijing Times.

Refusing to comment on whether there was any connection between Hao's campaign and the decision to not hike the price this year, the spokesman said the railway ministry had decided to stop the practise because passengers appreciated the move.

"The passengers who will be travelling on the extra trains that will be running this year are mostly college students and migrant workers. They applauded the measure, and the ministry decided to extend the benefit to more people," he said.

The railways are expected to carry 156 million passengers during the 40 days between February 3 and March 14, an increase of 4.3 percent over last year.

Source: China Daily