With Spring Festival around the corner the issue concerning most people is whether they can buy a ticket to return home for reunions. In cities around China people are lining up in long queues at ticket offices hoping to buy tickets.

Long queues are not unusual these days at the ticket office at Changzhou city in east China's Jiangsu Province. To reach the front of the line people came here seven hours before tickets went on sale.

Traveller Wei Shuying said, "My townfellow told me that the first ones may have the chance of buying a sitting ticket, or else I have to stand all the way home."

He's pinning all his hopes on today's sales....and his long-wait is worthwhile. The ticket is available.

Student Xiao Tang said, "I was worried while waiting, it's great to have a ticket, I cannot wait to go home."

In Southern Guangdong Province, since university students began returning home for winter vacations, railway stations have encountered a peak travel rush. Guangzhou Railway Corporation is expecting to serve 28 million people this year, hitting an historical high. To make students' journies more convenient, Guangzhou Railway Corporation has added nine special trains for them.

In Shanghai, the railway authority provides long-waiting buyers with stools, so they can sit, and relax while they are waiting.

A traveler said,"It's a surprise to have stools here, I have to wait several hours today."

More than 230 million people are expected to travel by train during this year's holiday season.