Train passengers have complained that they cannot buy tickets to go directly to their destinations so must accept spending more buying tickets on longer trips to make it home during the Lunar New Year.

For example, those who go from Ho Chi Minh City to the south-central city of Nha Trang must buy tickets for Ho Chi Minh City to Hue, situated in the central part, or those who travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Ha Tinh Province or Nghe An Province, both located in the north-central region, must buy tickets to Hanoi.

Many passengers have complained that the railway operators favor those booking long-distance trips despite the fact that Vietnam has dozens of stops in every province and city from north to south.

Earlier, state-run Saigon Railway Corporation announced that they will have 15 trains, instead of the usual five, that will depart from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi every day during the peak period of the Lunar New Year.

This means it can carry 13,000 passengers a day to go one way from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi.

So, the corporation said they will give top priority to passengers booking long distance from Ho Chi Minh City to either the north-central province of Thanh Hoa or the northern province of Nam Dinh or Hanoi.

After the total need of long-distance passengers is serviced, the firm said it would save the remaining seats for shorter-distance trips.

Difficult in buying short-range tickets

However, the corporation noted that it will have six trains of 3,000 seats a day making short-distance trips from Ho Chi Minh City to Nha Trang, and Phu Yen Province and Quang Ngai Province in the central region during the peak period.

The supply of 3,000 seats a day is less than real demand and so tickets for these stages were all sold out within several initial days, according to the firm.

Le Hong Nguyen in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City said she has never been able to book train tickets for the right distance since the Saigon Railway Corporation started selling tickets online many years ago.

She added that she needs to travel from Ho Chi Minh City to the Tuy Hoa station in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa but must buy tickets for trips from the city to Quang Ngai or Hue.

“I think the railway sector must be fair with all passengers,” a passenger said.

Dinh Van Sang, deputy general director of the corporation, said his firm has tickets for short trips such as Ho Chi Minh City – Nha Trang, Nha Trang – Nam Dinh, and Nha Trang – Hanoi, but also added that it often operates at a loss if it offers trains on short trips.

The corporation has also given priority to passengers going on long trips for many years, he confirmed.

So far, the corporation has sold 122,500 tickets for passengers traveling during the period from January 25 to February 6, or from the 20th day to the 28th day of the last month of the lunar year.

The Lunar New Year falls on February 8, 2016.

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