Migrant workers back to work by chartered train

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Source: CCTV.com | 02-14-2008 08:48

Many migrant workers have celebrated the Lunar New Year with their families. And they are now returning to their workplaces after the holiday.

Migrant workers queue to board first chartered train exclusively for them.

The first chartered train exclusively for migrant workers is leaving the railway station of Yangxin in Hubei province.

This county-level station has only 10 employees and its average passenger flow is less than 200 a day. But during the Spring Festival holiday, the number tops 12,000 a day. Most of the passengers are migrant workers.

The Wuhan Railway Bureau has allocated more than 90 employees to Yangxin station to help deal with the heavy flow. In addition to the chartered trains especially for migrant workers more trains are now required to stop here. Ticket windows have also been set up in towns and villages where trains don't actually stop so that it's easier for people to buy tickets.

A migrant worker said, "I used to first take a train to Wuhan, then spend a whole day there trying to buy a ticket to my workplace. Now I can get tickets in my hometown for the whole journey! It's really very convenient."

It's estimated that over 2 million migrant workers in Hubei province travel by train after the Spring Festival. And the increased flow of passengers presents a challenge for railway authorities to maintain their service standards.

Editor:Zhang Ning