Full coverage: 2017 Spring Festival
This is the Taiyuan Train Station in north China’s Shanxi Province. A place where thousands of passengers will pass through check-in points in the build up to the Chinese New Year. Luckily for them, college student volunteers have been helping here for over a week. Many of the volunteers stand and direct the flow of people, while maintaining order. They're often at the station for 8 hours.
"I’ve found that the biggest problem here is that many passengers are not familiar with the automatic check-in facilities. If there is a problem or if a machine breaks down, a large amount of passengers will be blocked at the check-in point. So we'll help passengers use the check-in facilities," College student volunteer Gao Yingpei said.
Some volunteers are helping at the self-service ticket facilities. Temperatures here are as cold as outside.
"The passenger flow here is quite large. Many of the elderly have difficulties using the self-service ticket system. We are very happy to help them. Although it’s quite cold here, we often feel warm at heart after lending a helping hand," College student volunteer Duan Yuqi said.
Many passengers also feel warm at heart and appreciate the help provided by the volunteers.
"It’s more convenient with their help. Good service!" Passenger at Taiyuan Train Station said.
“The service is pretty good. It’s very important to us," Passenger at Taiyuan Train Station said.
Some volunteers are also helping at the elevator entrance and the ticket refund center. A total of 135 student volunteers will be helping at the Taiyuan Train Station during the Spring Festival travel period.
"The student volunteers are always warm-hearted. Their help has relieved a lot of pressure during the Spring Festival travel period," Zhang Yihua, duty station head at Taiyuan Train Station said.
This year the Spring Festival travel period started on January 13th and will end on February 21st. Railway officials say they’re making every effort to ensure a smooth journey home for every passenger.
