CRI听力:Smart services give passengers pleasant travel experience

With the annual Spring Festival travel rush kicking into high gear, various services involving smart technology are now available to try to improve services for travellers.

At the Beijing South Railway Station, a new smart gate is using facial recognition to screen passengers.

The 'smart gate' takes a photo of the passenger while it’s reading his or her tickets and identity cards.

That photo is then compared to information on a police database, with passengers only permitted to enter the station if the information is matched successfully.

Authorities claim the machines are streamlining the identity verification process, cutting it down to just a few seconds.

Many travellers say the machines are less time consuming with higher efficiency.

"I often travel by train. The system is much quicker than before. I like it. It only takes a couple of seconds," says one traveller

"I think it's quite convenient and fast, and more efficient than before. It may also save manpower. I have more free time to arrange my own schedule as well," says another traveller.

Huang Xin, deputy director of the transportation service department of China Railway Corporation, says facial recognition systems are being employed at railway stations across the country.

"Currently over 110 railway stations in China have adopted the facial recognition system to ensure the passenger, the identity and the ticket all match up. Many passengers who use it once are very likely to use it again," says Huang.

Other smart technologies being implemented include car-sharing services, smart navigation systems, shared massage armchairs in the waiting rooms, as well as online meal ordering on trains.

At the same time, the process of purchasing tickets online for the Spring Festival travel rush has also been upgraded with smart services.

Various technologies have also been adopted to optimize the online train ticket booking system.

"We have implemented a variety of risk management measures, such as a cloud-based query system for people still looking to buy tickets. We have also improved the verification code system to ensure that 90% of the passengers will not need to input these codes when purchasing the tickets online. The system structure and user interface of the mobile app have also been upgraded to provide passengers with a much more pleasant experience," says Zhu Jiansheng, deputy director of the Institute of Computing Technology at China Academy of Railway Sciences.

During the Spring Festival travel rush this year, authorities estimate that four out of every five train tickets are being bought online, with more than 10 million being sold each day.