Tickets for long-distance trains departing Shenzhen Railway Station and Shenzhen West Railway Station between Feb. 1 and 7 were sold out by Sunday noon, the Guangshen Railway Co. Ltd. said.

In the 15 days from Jan. 16 to 30, a total of 549,000 tickets for trains departing Shenzhen between Jan. 25 and Feb. 7 were sold, the company said.

There are some unsold tickets for trains leaving Feb. 8 as most Chinese do not like to spend Chinese New Year's Eve on a train, the company said.

Since Sunday, Shenzhen Railway Station and Shenzhen West Railway Station and other ticket agencies were selling tickets two days ahead of departure time and six days ahead for departure after Feb. 7.

The train ticket booking hotline 9510-5160 is still taking bookings 10 days in advance until further notice. Each caller with a valid ID card can book up to three tickets.

From Tuesday, the hotline will open between 7 AM. and 8 PM with tickets to be collected between 8 AM and 10 PM. Reserved tickets not collected within one day will be canceled.

Three temporary outlets for travelers to claim reserved tickets on Baogang Road in Luohu District, Buji Street in Longgang District and Xuefu Road West in Nanshan District are to close Tuesday.

The city's 49 train ticket agencies are due to resume normal operations Tuesday. In the past 15 days, train ticket bookings could only be made online (for group ticket bookings only) or via the hotline.

Free home delivery application for train tickets ends Tuesday, the city's post bureau said. But it would still be available for travelers who had ordered deliveries before Tuesday. Inquiries can be made by calling 11185, the ticket delivery hotline.

The post bureau said it had delivered nearly 100,000 tickets until Monday, accounting for one-quarter of ticket sales.

Statistics showed more than 400,000 tickets had been sold over the hotline so far.

(Shenzhen Daily February 1, 2005)