Spring Festival travel rush starts early

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The holidays combined with days off during the weekend mean that Chinese people will have 14 days off work this month. Many people who plan to return home for the Lunar New Year are leaving earlier to take advantage of the break.

The lack of big construction projects in Beijing this year is another reason for the increased seasonal travel. Millions of migrant workers traditionally return home to their families and this year they are going back earlier.

The railway authorities in the capital have added ticket offices, lengthened working hours, and arranged additional trains to cope with the passenger surge.

Yao Hongren, Deputy Party secretary of Beijing Weat Railway Station, said, "From January 2nd, migrant workers can book two-way tickets at the group ticket booth. The group must be for the same train and entailing a purchase of no less than 20 tickets. If there is a group purchase of over 500 tickets, a special train may be booked."

Long queues also appeared in front of the ticket booths in Guangzhou Railway Station, which has set up seven temporary ticket booths. Some passengers say they had to come in person because telephone bookings were sold out.

The Ministry of Railways says train stations across China expect to handle a record 188 million passengers, up 8 percent year on year.

Editor:Liu Anqi