Beijing prepares for festival travel rush
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-01-23 14:21

Beijing's transportation departments are ready to handle hundreds of millions of people rushing home for a family reunion during the coming Spring Festival, or China's Lunar New Year, which will fall on Feb. 9 this year.

Information from local transportation departments show that Beijing's railways will see 7.35 million passengers during the Spring Festival rush season which will last for 40 days from Jan. 25 to March 5.

Local buses and subways will see 471 million passengers during the Spring Festival season.

To handle these passengers, Beijing Railway Administration has prepared 75 pairs of makeshift passenger trains, 10 percent more that that for last year's same period, and has worked out three emergency plans to handle sudden passengers peaks.

Local civil aviation authorities have arranged an additional 1, 500 charter flights for the Spring Festival season, during which daily passenger flow by air is expected to reach 900 landings and take-offs at the Capital International Airport and peak at approximately 1,000 flights daily.

Beijing municipal transportation administration has prepared 150 large-sized passenger buses and rearranged time schedule for urban and long-distance buses to deal with possible peak passenger flow.

Meanwhile, concerned departments have intensified efforts to guarantee the safety of passengers during the festival season. Passengers are banned from carrying dangerous chemicals and materials that are easy to be ignited aboard buses, trains and planes. Ticket fraud will be dealt with harshly.

Spring Festival passenger flow poses a challenge to China's air, railway and highway transportation capacity.

For example, China's railway expects to see 145 million passengers in the coming Spring Festival rush, up 3.5 percent from the same period last year, according to Chinese Ministry of Communications.

Railway departments across the country have been taking emergency measures to cope with the Spring Festival transport wave ahead of schedule.

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