Chinese police target train ticket scalping ahead of festival

Chinese rail police have launched a campaign targeting train ticket scalping ahead of the upcoming Spring Festival travel rush.

The campaign kicked off on Dec. 7 when China Railway Corporation (CRC), operator of China's rail network, began to sell train tickets for the travel period known as "Chunyun," according to a statement by railway police Wednesday.

They pledge to crack down on online scalping by setting up a special squad of investigators as more and more travelers choose to buy their tickets via the Internet, the statement said.

Police have increased patrols around railway stations. Meanwhile, they also encourage the public to report scalpers to them, the statement said.

The campaign is scheduled to conclude on March 16, 2015, the last day of the 40-day Chunyun.

Ticket scalping is a major problem around big holidays like the National Day holiday in October and Spring Festival.

"Chunyun," sometimes called the world's largest human migration, is the hectic travel period surrounding traditional Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, known as the Spring Festival.

The festival is China's most important holiday of reunion, with hundreds of millions of people traveling to their hometowns to spend time with relatives, putting huge stress on the transportation system.

During Chunyun 2014, about 266 million trips were made on railways, up 12 percent from the previous year.

The upcoming Spring Festival falls on Feb. 19.