China´s railways working hard to transport stranded passengers

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Source: CCTV.com | 01-30-2008 13:28

The worst hit in the storm is the Beijing_Guangzhou Railway, over 500,000 people have been stranded in the Guangzhou Railway already. Most of them are on their way home for spring festival family reunion.

To ease the pressure on Guangzhou Railway Station, railway authorities have ordered trains to take alternate routes to bypass affected areas.

The southern portion of the Beijing-Guangzhou railway has been paralyzed by heavy snow in central Hunan Province. Trains stopped running when power transmission were knocked out. China's railways are working hard to transport stranded passengers.

Spring Festival is such an important time for Chinese. Under normal circumstances, there is no reason why an average Chinese should not be going home, but this time is really difficult. There has been advisory that those who can afford not taking trains should avoid the trains, plane or bus to alleviate the pressure on the already strained communication. We strongly advise travellers from both home and abroad remain where you are if possible.

To ease the pressure on Guangzhou Railway Station, railway authorities have ordered trains to take alternate routes to bypass affected areas.

So far, 560,000 stranded passengers have been transported.

Spokesman of Ministry of Railways Wang Yongping said, "We've replaced electric locomotives with diesel powered units. They bypass the Beijing-Kowloon rail line so that stranded passengers along the Beijing-Guangzhou line can be evacuated."

A large number of passengers remain stranded in Guangzhou.

Many south-bound passengers are forced to wait in Wuhan.

Wang Yongping said, "Constant snowfall in this section from Changsha in Hunan to Shaoguan in Guangdong has forced high voltage lines to fall down onto our rail catenary system. After the system breaks down, the power supply doesn't work, paralyzing the whole rail line. The southern part of Beijing-Guangzhou line would be okay if we can recover that critical section."

While the snow continues it's difficult to resume full service on the Beijing-Guangzhou line.

Authorities have been providing food and water to stranded passengers and keeping them updated with railway traffic information.

Meanwhile, Shanghai has suspended ticket sales for north-bound and south-bound long-distance trains.

How long the suspension will last depends on the weather.

In Guiyang and Changsha, railway stations have set up extra booths for passengers to get refunds or have tickets amended.

Editor:Zhang Ning