Rumor: Railway Ministry Looking for Contractors Like Alibaba and Baidu to Help With Online Ticket Sales

Could Baidu or Alibaba fix this mess?

After watching the unmitigated disaster that was China’s Railway Ministry’s attempts to run online ticket sales during Spring Festival this year, I must admit I was skeptical that it would do any better when it promised it would improve things next year. But if rumors currently circulating on the Chinese net are true, the Ministry may be turning to internet companies for help.

Supposedly, the Ministry is soliciting bids from private contractors to help run 12306, its online ticket sales platform. Listed firms apparently include Alibaba’s Alipay as well as offerings from other major net firms like Baidu. Some are saying that Alibaba’s Jack Ma even met with officials at the Railway Ministry yesterday. None of this information has been confirmed by the companies involved, though. Representatives from Alibaba told Tech in Asia they don’t remark on Jack Ma’s meeting schedule, and Baidu indicated that it was unable to comment.

Whether these rumors are true or not, I certainly hope the Railway Ministry is looking for competent help, because Spring Festival this year proved pretty undeniably that the Ministry is not capable of operating an online ticket sales service itself, at least not one that can withstand the kind of pressure that occurs when hundreds of millions of people are trying to buy train tickets at more or less the same time. Of course, improving the online system won’t help at all with complaints the whole thing is unfair, but at least it might mean that next year you don’t have to spend five hours on the Railway Ministry’s website before your ticket is actually booked.

[via Sina Tech]