Trains were leaving Guangzhou every three minutes Saturday, sending off nearly 200,000 passengers from the employment hub in south China's Guangdong Province.

The high traffic is more than double the station's normal operation capacity and is expected to last for three days before the Spring Festival Eve on Wednesday night, China's traditional festival for family reunion.

Passengers have been flooding into the station since New Year's Day, making it necessary to put 49 temporary trains into use. The city has so far sent off 1.3 million passengers since the home-returning spree started on Jan. 7, up 11.3 percent from the same period last year.

Guangzhou railway station was built in 1974 with a designed capacity of transporting 25,000 passengers each day and after reconstruction, the station can deal with 85,000 passengers each day on average.

The station has launched two emergency programs to cope with the peak flow and each platform and waiting room are staffed with ten police and railway workers to maintain safety and order.   

(Xinhua News Agency January 18, 2004)