China's railways expect an 8.3 percent increase in passengers
from a year ago during the lunar New Year period, with a traffic
flow of 178.6 million passengers between January 23 to March 2, the
Ministry of Railways said on Wednesday.
Sun Shunhu, an official with the Ministry of Railways, yesterday
told the central government's portal Website that the prices of
train tickets will not be raised during this year's Spring Festival
travel peak.
China had raised train fares to control the number of railway
passengers during the nation's busiest travel season over the past
few years.
The 40-day railway peak period is the world's biggest movement
of population with the number of people traveling for the Spring
Festival almost equivalent to the population of Brazil.
The Spring Festival falls on February 7 this year. Many migrant
workers get home for family gatherings only once a year at this
time.
Big crowds are expected at major transport hubs in cities such
as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in the first 15 days of the
period because of the number of tourists and migrant workers and
students all anxious to go home.
Over the next 25 days, passenger flow will be greatest in cities
such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang, Hefei and Fuyang in
southwest and east China as migrants head back for work after the
holidays.s
The Ministry of Railways said it is to arrange extra trains to
cope.
China's railways transport more than three million people on
average every day, and the number climbs to 4.5 million during the
Spring Festival peak. In big cities such as Shanghai, Beijing,
Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu, trains transport about 100,000
passengers a day.
(Shanghai Daily January 4, 2008)