|
Tension remains as railway turns normal
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-01-22 09:10
Though China's railway network is starting normal operation after a heavy
snow paralyzed some of the country's trunk lines for more than 24 hours, railway
managers cannot yet feel relieved.
A woman wearing an
orange scarf looks on while waiting to buy a train ticket
at Chendu's railway station in Southwest China's Sichuan Province on
January 17, 2006. Migrant workers are going back home to celebrate the
upcoming festival, the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year which starts
January 29, 2006. China's passenger flow will hit two billion trips during
the 2006 Spring Festival holiday, the National Development and Reform
Commission predict. [newsphoto] |
The Beijing
West Railway Station will continue the red-level emergency warning scheme until
the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar new year which falls on Jan. 29, said a
station official Saturday.
More than 100,000 passengers were stranded at the station after the heavy
snow in central Henan Province delayed more than 20 trains to leave the capital
on Thursday.
The official said the station is expected to see more than 140,000 passengers
leaving every day in the following week.
The station launched the top level warning scheme Thursday for the first time
after it was put into use 10 years ago.
In Shanghai, 17 trains to leave or arrive were delayed Saturday, leaving
about 10,000 passengers stranded.
The Shanghai Railway Station decided to suspend the sale of tickets for 17
westward trains since Saturday.
Expecting passengers may choose coaches as an alternative, the metropolis'
transportation authorities decided to increase 140 runs of coaches on a basis of
the original 960.
In Xi'an, capital of northwestern Shaanxi Province, more than 4,000 train
passengers were delayed Saturday, though freeways and the airport had resumed
normal operation there.
Heavy snow began to hit a large area of China on Wednesday morning.
Snow-caused delay added more tension to the already-overloaded passenger
transportation system during the holiday season of the Spring Festival, an
occasion for family reunion.
The Spring Festival travel peak started last Saturday. During the 40-day peak
season, from Jan. 14 to Feb. 22, a record over 2 billion migrant workers,
students and tourists will travel to and fro to hometowns and holiday
destinations.
The snow also held up about 60,000 train passengers Thursday in Zhengzhou,
provincial capital of Henan and a hub on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, a major
north-to-south railway line.
|
