A railway station in southern China's
Guangzhou city is crowded with stranded passengers on Wednesday,
January 30, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]
Workers clean up an exhibition hall to
accommodate stranded passengers in southern China's Guangzhou city
on Wednesday, January 30, 2008. [Photo: Xinhua]
Traffic on the Beijing-Guangzhou railway line has "basically"
returned to normal, a spokesman of the Ministry of Railways
announced.
Transport capacity has been greatly restored and the railway
authorities are doing their best to send hundreds of thousands of
stranded travelers across the country on their way home for next
week's Spring Festival, Wang Yongping, the ministry's spokesman,
said last night, China News Service reported on Thursday.
About 500,000 people had camped out at the plaza of Guangzhou
Railway Station in Guangdong Province over the last few days as the
worst snowfall in five decades cut off sections of the
Beijing-Guangzhou Railway Line.
Still, long delays are likely to continue in the provinces of
Hunan, Guizhou, Jiangxi and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region as
weather forecasters said blizzards will sweep across those areas in
the next three days, the report said.
Railway departments are trying to get damaged electricity
networks and facilities repaired as soon as possible so that more
railway lines can return to normal operation, Wang said.
Since mid January, severe winter weather has ravaged central,
southern and eastern parts of China, where mild winters are
common.
Snowstorms have killed at least 71 people, paralyzed transport
and coal shipments, and led to massive crowds at railway stations
and airports. The power supply has been reduced in almost half of
the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities.
(CRI January 31, 2008)
