NE China railway launches car delivery services for winter migrants

SHENYANG -- A railway bureau in northeast China's Liaoning Province has launched a service to deliver cars for people heading to the country's southernmost province of Hainan for the winter.

The first train carrying six vehicles departed from Shenyang East Railway Station at 10 p.m. Thursday. It will arrive at Haikou South Railway Station 104 hours later, said Li Yang, a manager of tourism services with the Shenyang Railway Bureau.

Li said more deliveries are expected in the coming weeks as the freezing winter in northeast China sends more local residents, especially retirees, to seek the sun in the south.

"The high cost and dangers of long hours of driving used to force the winter migrants to leave their cars at home. Now, they have the option of having them delivered," he said.

The train, will run once a week on Thursdays, carrying a maximum of 150 vehicles per trip. The fee is around 4,000 yuan ($580).

Authorities estimate around 300,000 elderly people from northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang travel to the island province of Hainan in winter every year.