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)