Spring Festival Transport 2003 Kicks off

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 17, 2003

Spring Festival Transport 2003 Kicks off

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January 17 marks the beginning of China's Spring Festival transport in 2003. During this period, transportation departments nationwide will see a total passenger flow of 1.82bn, up 3.7 percent over last year, estimates by the State Economic and Trade Commission say.

Known as the Spring Travel Season, it concludes on February 25, with the peak travel times occurring immediately before and after the Spring Festival. The 2003 Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year, falls on Feb. 1, the most important traditional day for the reunion of the Chinese family.

At present, with a national population of 1.36bn, it sees every Chinese to travel more than once in the 40-day spring peak season this year. Spring season travelers consist mainly of migrant workers, students on their winter holidays, professionals and an increasing number of tourists.

The Chinese government sets an appropriate time frame for the travel season each year, during which the railway, highway and airlines make special efforts to ensure that "traffic" runs smoothly.

An estimated 130 million persons will travel by train in China during this period, averaging 3.25 million per day, say sources with the Ministry of Railways.

This number is 1.66 million persons more than that of the passenger flow during the same period last year, said Hu Yadong, director of the Transport Bureau of China's Ministry of Railways, adding, "This year will bring increased pressure with respect to handling this huge number of people."

The ministry has drawn up three contingency plans for the travel period, which include the operation of 210 additional trains for students and migrant workers, Hu said.

The Ministry of Communications predicts that China's highways and waterways will transport 1.66 billion and 24 million passengers, respectively, during the period.

China's public security and traffic administration departments will step up security measures on the nation's highways, according to the Ministry of Communications.

The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC) predicts that a total of 8.7 million passengers will travel by plane during the period, up four percent year-on-year.

Air China and nine other Chinese airlines have arranged 5,169 additional and charter flights during the period to meet the surge in demand from the holiday market.

Beijing and Guangzhou are the two key areas for the Spring Festival travel. In addition to over 1800 trains of its own, Guangzhou Railway Passenger Transport Company transferred 408 train-carriages from other railway bureaus for the service of the Spring Festival transportation. Now, they've all been brought to the place.

Zhengzhou Railway Bureau, located in the center of the nation's transportation network, has arranged 181 pairs of temporary trains during the traffic peak season, the most numerous in the years past.

Beijing Railway Station has opened China's first waiting room for helping the elderly. Installed with a drinks-machine, a stretcher, five push-wheelchairs and two electric ones, it provides the elderly and disabled with free boarding service by escorting them to carriages.

By People's Daily Online

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