Chinese New Year travellers opt for rail as more snow arrives
Blizzards and ice storms in northern provinces close roads and runways
Snow and rain on the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday triggered highway closures, flight delays and cancellations, adding pressure on an already busy railway network set to break records for the hectic travel season.
Travellers returning to work and school were expected to make 10.3 million train trips yesterday, an 8.8 per cent increase from last year, the previous record-high number, according to the China Railway Corporation.
The corporation, operator of the world’s second longest railway network, had to add 800 passenger trains to cope with the soaring demand for seats as the week-long traditional period of family reunions came to an end.
Many travellers switched to rail as another severe cold front from the north brought snow and rain that disrupted road and air travel.
Snow was heaviest in northeastern Liaoning (遼寧) province, where all but three expressways were closed yesterday morning.
Runways at the airport in Dalian (大連), at the southern tip of the province, were closed for two hours in the morning when ice made runway conditions too dangerous.
At least 90 flights were cancelled and dozens were delayed as of 7pm yesterday, while strong winds shut down shipping services to and from the city, one of the main seaports in northeastern China.
Further south, in Shandong (山東) province, heavy rain and snow closed some 40 expressways, Xinhua reported, citing the province’s transportation department.
Sections of major interprovincial roads, including the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau expressway, were affected by heavy snow.
Another 64 were affected by light to medium snow, according to the China Meteorological Administration and Ministry of Transport .
Steady snow in Lanzhou (蘭州), Gansu (甘肅) province led to a sharp rise in passengers boarding intercity high-speed trains, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Major train stations in Hunan (湖南), Anhui (安徽) and Jiangxi (江西) provinces, home to many of the mainland’s migrant workers, set up temporary ticket windows and add extra trains to ensure departures.
Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen saw their train stations crowded with returning workers. About 500,000 passengers arrived at Beijing’s three train stations yesterday.
The number of arriving International flights also started to peak. Tickets to Guangzhou from destinations popular with mainland travellers including Bangkok, Phuket, Chiangmai, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bali and Seoul in the next few days have been sold out, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
