Train passengers heading home for the Lunar New Year (Spring Festival) holiday were still stranded in Beijing yesterday after heavy snowfall in central China paralyzed a major north-south railway.

By 5 PM on Friday, 19 southern-bound trains to Chengdu, Kunming and Chongqing had been delayed because of ice and 10 centimeters of snow in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province and also a key transport hub on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.  

Tens of thousands of passengers were packed in the Beijing West Railway Station while flocks of people were still flooding in. The waiting hall and the square in front of the station were full of passengers.

To avoid chaos, passengers were allowed into the waiting hall only six hours before the departure time. Hundreds of police were called in to maintain order and security.  

The snow began on Wednesday morning in central and south China.

About 160,000 train passengers were delayed on Thursday nationwide, 100,000 of them stranded in Beijing and 60,000 in Zhengzhou.

Jin Xiumei, a noodle restaurant owner who lives near the Beijing West Railway Station, was anxious waiting for the arrival of her twin daughters at the station yesterday.

"They took the train from Anhui on Thursday night, but the railway station said it will be delayed for 23 hours because of the snow," Jin said.

The Ministry of Railways launched a red emergency scheme yesterday to urge railway departments to try their best to ensure passengers' safe and smooth travel.

Thousands of railway workers in affected areas were mobilized to clean up snow and ice on the railways, the ministry said.  

According to weather forecast, the snowy and rainy weather in central and east China is expected to end on Saturday.  

(China Daily January 21, 2006)