More snow forecast as China gears up for post-holiday travel peak

BEIJING—China’s transport authorities are gearing up for the post-Lunar New Year holiday travel peak on Tuesday amid forecasts of fresh snow.
Most of south China would see moderate snow and rain in the next three days, while sleet and snow were expected for the already hard-hit southwestern province of Guizhou, the China Meteorological Administration (CMA) said Monday.
It warned the icy weather could cause problems during the travel peak. The number of passengers surged in major railway and bus stations on Monday as millions of people journeyed back to work. The State Council called on travelers to adjust their plans to avoid the peak on Monday. Roads should be cleared to ensure safety in the event of rain and snow. The Ministry of Railways had 264 extra trains on standby to tackle the travel peak and 191 trains from northeast China were heading for the central Wuhan, Nanchang and Chengdu cities from where most migrant workers depart. Major railway stations had opened more ticket booths for 24-hour sales to cope with the peak, according to the ministry.
The railways carried 3.99 million passengers on Sunday, 480,000more than a day earlier, according to ministry figures.
The post-Spring Festival railway transport peak saw more than five million passengers in one day last year and more were expected this year, said a ministry spokesperson.
The travel rush began to hit China’s roads on Monday, with 44.6 million people traveling by bus, an increase of 16.5 million from the previous day, the Ministry of Communications said Monday. Transport authorities have prepared more than 700,000 buses to deal with the rush. More windows and longer opening times had been arranged to allow easier ticket purchases.
About 80 percent of inter-provincial bus lines had resumed after snow and icy weather caused severe disruption last week. No passengers had been reported stranded, said the ministry. The travel rush comes as China’s transport systems are creaking back to life after freak cold and ice storms hit swathes of the country, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing at least 70 people.
China’s government task force tackling snow snarl alerted on Sunday night the transportation situation remained grim as the new travel peak loomed, despite of the initial victory achieved. We have reaped the final victory of ensuring smooth transportation amid snow after major highways and railways have resumed normal order, the Disaster Relief and Emergency Command Center under the State Council said in a notice.
The overall situation, however, remained very grim as the nation braces for Lunar New Year return traffic peak and a mass of goods and materials which give way to emergency coals, are edgily waiting for transportation, the task force said.
Early preparation should be made to guarantee smooth transportation in the face of another round of precipitation and snow in south and southwest China in the next 10 days.
China is expected to see a peak of railway traffic on Feb. 12, the last day of the Chinese Lunar New Year break, said the Ministry of Railway on Sunday.
Post-Spring Festival railway traffic peak saw more than five million passengers in one day last year and we expect even more this year, predicted the ministry.
Highway transportation except has returned to normalcy. Some 28.1 million people have been carried by major expressways and highways on Sunday, up 6.05 million over the previous day. Some 4,291 flights carrying 535,000 passengers took off on Sunday, 23,000 more than a day earlier. Efforts are going on to meet demands of power and coal. The stockpile of power coal has reached 22.12 million tons, enough to fuel national power stations for 11 days on average. Coal shipment hit new high in northern China ports. The four major ports in the area shipped a record 1.409 million tons of coal on Saturday, an increase of 79,000 tons from a day earlier.

—Xinhua