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Spring Festival rush for home puts China to harmony test

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-14 23:35

The unpredictable

The loudest public complaint zeroed in on ticket shortages as freezing temperatures and biting winds compounded the resentment of standing in the open air for hours. The railway authority, however, deemed safety the top priority concerning harmony.

People crowd in the ticket hall at Fuzhou Railway Station in southeastern China's Fujian Province to buy train tickets home on January 11, 2009, the first day of China's Spring Festival travel rush. [cnsphoto]

In a mobilization order issued in early January, China's Railroad Police Authority under the Railway Ministry urged its branches across the country to stay high alert for "the unpredictable".

The top priority, it said, was to ward off hidden risks from hazardous, combustible and explosive articles as their effects could be disastrous. The second concern was to prevent stampedes that might lead to mass injuries or deaths. Last was to beware of foul weather such as that which ravaged southern China early last year stranding huge numbers of people in railway stations and posing new risks.

"Safety is extraordinarily significant this year because the financial crisis has left many people jobless and with less cash. For a harmonious Spring Festival, it is essential to ensure all passengers, especially rural migrants and those on low incomes, can travel home safely with salaries and bonuses secure in their pockets," Chai says.

The railway authority has required all luggage to be checked thoroughly. To ease passenger numbers at stations, they are reminding travelers not to arrive too early. Arriving two hours ahead of the departure time is enough, they say.

Police force realignment

One quiet change Xinhua learned from Railway police was that high-speed trains had taken the back seat this year as police resources were transferred to standard and temporary trains to safeguard rural migrants, students and the low paid.

Since the launch of high-speed rail services in 2006, the safety of trains labeled with CRH (China Railway High-speed) and running at 200 to 350 km per hour have been cause for concern. Although CRH trains share the same number of police officers with standard and temporary trains, resources have been purposely deployed in the latter.

Practice over the past three years showed that ordinary and temporary trains, known as "Puke" and "Linke", which charged less, had more stops and ran the slowest were more vulnerable to thefts and crimes.

When the economy was solid and brisk, rural migrants usually went home for a short break. But this time, with little hope of returning immediately, many migrants are actually moving their "homes" and traveling with more valuables. Their luggage includes buckets, electric fans, rice cookers, TVs and clothes hangers.

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