Law student prompts response from Railway Ministry

A college student in Wuhan, Hubei Province, received a written response from the Ministry of Railways last week after he asked the government body to explain its pricing scheme.

The response, the second disclosure of information from the ministry this year, said that passenger tickets were priced according to relevant regulations which are open to the public for reference, the Changjiang Daily reported Saturday.

"The response is exactly what I expected," said Zhang Chun, 22, who studies law at Wuhan-based Jianghan University. According to the regulation, ticket prices are set by mileage.

Zhang wants to be a lawyer after graduation and has joined a campus association to provide legal assistance to people in need. He says he has found that defending one's legal rights is not as easy as he'd expected.

A recent posting from a Web user calling for the ministry to cut its standing-only ticket price in half has attracted heated comments from hundreds of thousands of netizens. Currently, those holding a standing-only ticket pay as much as those who get a seat. Zhang wanted to be part of the movement to help change this.

He decided to post a request for the ministry to publicize their pricing policy. "I want the information to be published for no other use but to fulfill my right as a citizen collecting information that pertains to my life," he wrote in the application.

Zhang, a senior, is now preparing for the national judicial examination. He considers his action to be a bid for greater public interest and says he will pursue similar actions in the future.

Zhang said the response from the ministry was a good sign and that it indicated increased attention to public affairs when more college students request that government departments publish information according to regulations.