AFTER BOARDING A TRAIN RECENTLY, Chen Huiyi, a female student in Zhejiang province, lost her ticket, which was bought under her name. She showed proof of purchase and her identity card but was required to pay for another ticket. Chen is now suing the railway authorities. Comments:

Since Jan 1, 2012, all train tickets nationwide must be purchased with proof of identity of the passenger, and their personal information is stored in the system. In other words, besides the paper ticket, there are many ways of determining whether a passenger has bought a ticket. Chen provided several forms of evidence to prove that she purchased a ticket. Asking her to buy a ticket again is absurd.

Beijing Youth Daily, Oct 17

By purchasing a ticket, the passenger has actually signed a contract with the railway, in which case the former is responsible for keeping the ticket while the latter is responsible for keeping a record. If a passenger loses his or her ticket, it is reasonable for the railway bureau to charge a service fee for printing another ticket, but it is definitely unfair for it to force the passenger to pay for the full price of the ticket.

Zheng Lei, an associate professor of law at Zhejiang University, Oct 18

From the reports, it can be seen that the railway staff well knew Chen had bought a ticket, but they insisted on forcing her to buy another one. This is rather bureaucratic and we hope market-oriented reform will break the railway monopoly.

china.com.cn, Oct 16