Snow paralyzes railways, 160,000 passengers held up (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-01-20 09:04
About 160,000 train passengers were held up Thursday in China after heavy
snow paralyzed one of its major north-to-south railways.
The Beijing West Railway Station launched a red-level emergency warning
scheme after more than 100,000 passengers were held up there after a heavy snow
hit Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province and a railway hub,
delayed trains on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway.
At the Zhengzhou Railway Station, about 60,000 passengers were held up.
From 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, snow began to fall in large areas of China,
including Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Shanghai, Xi'an, Ji'nan and Lanzhou. It still keeps
falling in many areas.
Another major trunk line, the east-west Lianyungang-Lanzhou line, is also
under snow and rain.
Passengers crowd in the Beijing West Railway
Station Jan. 19, 2006. More than 100,000 passengers are held up in the
station as more than 20 trains are
delayed.[Xinhua] | China's Spring Festival
travel peak started Saturday. Numerous migrant workers and college students are
expected to go home for family reunions before the lunar new year comes, which
falls on Jan. 29.
More than 20 trains to leave the capital were held up at the Beijing West
Railway Station. One train was late for more than eight hours, a station
official said.
The Zijinshan overpass is covered with snow in Zhengzhou, capital city of
central China's Henan province on Jan. 19, 2006.
The waiting hall and the station square were both full of passengers waiting
to check in. And the station kept broadcasting train information. The railway
repeatedly broadcast a message: "For personal and property safety of passengers,
ticket holders are not allowed to enter the waiting hall till six hours before
the train leaving time."
Railway police and armed police were mobilized to maintain order at the
railway station.
The Ministry of Railways, the Beijing municipal government and the Beijing
Bureau of Railways have formed a joint command center in the station to direct
the arrangement of resting places and food supply to held-up passengers.
The Ministry of Railways has asked its local bureaus to maintain 24-hour on
duty to ensure the smooth running of trunk railway lines during the Spring
Festival period.
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