China offers joined-up rail ticketing to belt and road countries

[superadmin]

• Laos is first to sign up to the universal platform, which uses Swiss francs, not the US dollar for international payments
  
• The system is based on China’s domestic app and can handle requests from around the world in different languages, the developers said
  

China has developed an all-in-one train ticketing system that can unite the widely different ticket selling platforms in more than 140 countries on a smartphone app, according to the top national rail science academy.

The system has been tailor-made for member countries of China’s Belt and Road Initiative – the world’s largest infrastructure investment campaign launched in 2013 – and will automatically access and coordinate their ticket selling platforms.

Laos, in the heart of Southeast Asia, is the first country to sign up to the platform, with travellers using their smartphones to book tickets from March 15.

- More -