Police in China's southern Guangdong Province have captured 56 people in connection with dealing in counterfeit identity certificates designed to beat the real-name train ticket selling system launched January 21.

Police have busted 12 counterfeiting rings and confiscated more than 5,000 fake certificates, according to the Ministry of Railways (MOR) Wednesday.

Among other confiscated items, police seized fake cachets, molds, printing machines and heat-wrapping machines, the police department of the ministry said.

Since the launch of the real-name ticket selling scheme, police have stepped up checks on passengers boarding trains and those queuing to buy tickets.

In one case, policy discovered an ex-convict surnamed Xu running an illegal train ticket selling business. Police arrested Xu on January 22 and confiscated 70 fake ID cards and 34 real ones.

The real-name ticket selling system was initially adopted for trains running between Guangdong and the inland provinces of Hunan, Sichuan and Guizhou and Chongqing Municipality, the home provinces of millions of Guangdong's migrant workers who rush home for the Spring Festival holiday every year.

The system was designed to solve the problem of ticket scalping, a common phenomenon in previous years' Spring Festival travel rush.

The festival, also known as the Chinese New Year, falls on February 14 this year. The MOR estimates 210 million passengers will travel, up 9.5 percent from a year earlier, during the 40-day rush period beginning January 30.

Train tickets during the holiday period are difficult to buy and many passengers have complained about ticket scalping.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2010)