Beijing West Railway Station, the capital's largest station, has reported a peak passenger flow three weeks before the Spring Festival with 110,000 travelers leaving on Saturday.

 

Most of the passengers were college students on their winter vacation and migrants workers returning home for Spring Festival, according to a station official.

 

Passenger numbers have been rising and the station has seen an average 100,000 departures per day since Wednesday, 20 percent up year-on-year. The station has arranged 13 extra trains to ease the traffic pressure.

 

The official said the extra trains should be able to accommodate all travelers and tickets were being sold 10 days in advance.

 

The Ministry of Railways announced on Jan. 10 that railway ticket prices would not be raised during the Spring Festival period this year. The news has been widely welcomed by the public.

 

During the past Spring Festival travel season, fares for ordinary hard seats increased 15 percent while those for other seats went up 20 percent.

 

Beijing's railway stations have opened group ticket-booking offices for migrant workers in large construction companies and have set up ticket sales desks at colleges.

 

Stations have also opened 24-hour ticket sales windows.

 

Passengers should be quick to arrange their travel as the fare freeze might attract more travelers, according to railway officials.

 

The Gaungzhou Railway Station, in the capital of southern Guangdong Province, has also reported a large number of travelers on Saturday with more than 90,000 departures, dramatically up from the usual 70,000.

 

"Saturday and Sunday will be the high time for the collage students to return home and we have prepared 28 special trains for students," said Zhang Xueke, head of the railway station.

 

The Ministry of Railways estimates that China's railways will transport an unprecedented 156 million passengers during the 40-day Spring Festival travel peak from Feb. 3 to March 14, up 4.3 percent year-on-year.

 

Passenger flows will be concentrated in Beijing and Guangzhou during the first 15 days and in Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang and Hefei during the remaining 25 days.

 

The peak is expected to come after the lunar New Year's Day, which falls on Feb. 18 this year, when college students begin to return to school and migrant workers set out for big cities.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2007)