VietNamNet Bridge – Do Thi Ngoc Thao, a student at the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities, took more than three hours on Tuesday to book a train ticket to Vinh using the web address www.vetau.com.vn.

Customers wait to buy train tickets for their Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays at Ha Noi Railway Station. Website www.vetau.com.vn crashed because of the rush of people seeking to book tickets for the holiday season. (Photo: VNS)
She was buying a ticket to go home for Tet (the Lunar New Year) holidays, and just 30 minutes after she entered the site, it began to act up.

The booking had opened early Tuesday morning and people were scrambling to buy the tickets because they sell out all too soon every year.

The Sai Gon Railway Passenger Transport Company said in a press release that more than 30,000 users had entered the system though it was meant for only 10,000.

Soon enough it crashed.

The company worked with its IT partner to fix the system by noon, but it was still not running normally.

Truong Thi Thuy Vy, a student at the HCM City University of Industry, said she had managed to book a ticket to Ha Noi but the system had got stuck every 15 minutes.

A railway spokesperson said the system would run smoothly in a few days once the number of users came down. The site apparently resumed working yesterday, according to local media reports.

More than 20,000 tickets were booked on Tuesday, and more than 25,000 more are available in the first phase of sales.

This year the company will sell nearly 60,000 tickets for travel just before and after Tet.

Fares are up 39 per cent this year.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News