Source: CCTV.com

01-28-2008 11:21

The bad weather is also bringing wreaking havoc for travelers rushing home for the Spring Festival holidays. Sunday saw snow and sleet in the central, eastern and southern regions threaten to bring air, rail and highway traffic to a complete, grinding halt.

The bad weather is bringing wreaking havoc for travelers rushing  home for the Spring Festival holidays.

The most important holiday for Chinese people is the Spring Festival. And with that just 10 days away, millions of passengers are struggling to make that vital once-a-year trip home to spend time with their families.

But close to 150 thousand passengers were stranded at Guangzhou Railway Station on Saturday night after a power failure caused by snow, ice and sleet stopped more than 136 trains in Hunan Province on the trunk line between Beijing and Guangzhou.

Chen Min, Chief Operator of Guangzhou Railway Group said "We have been doing everything we can to minimize the weather impact. But we're telling passengers to be aware that their trains are likely to be delayed for one or two days."

One train passenger said "We are anxious to board our train and get home for the holiday. But we can see that people working at the train stations are very anxious as well. They are working so hard to help us. And we appreciate that."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Railways has issued instructions ordering 63 trains to take alternative routes via the Beijing-Kowloon or Shanghai-Kunming Railway Lines. The Ministry has also dispatched 35 trains from Beijing, Wuhan and Nanchang cities.

Wang Yongping, Spokesman of Minstry of Railways said "All railway authorities are trying their best. We expect the railways to return to normal in one or two days, if there are no more power failures."

Road traffic between Hunan and Guangdong provinces has also ground to a halt. Traffic was still at a standstill on Sunday on the southern section of the expressway linking Beijing with Zhuhai City in Guangdong Province. Last week saw it blocked by bad weather, and at least 60,000 people in 20,000 vehicles were stranded.

Guangdong authorities have sent 15 million text messages warning drivers not to take highways leading north.

Several regional airports have also been completely shut down by the weather, including those at Nanjing, Wuhan, Guiyang, Changsha, Nanchang and Guangzhou. And authorities say there's little chance of most of them re-opening before noon on Monday of this week.

The recent cold spell has been unusually long. Rain and snow started in many parts of China on January 10th, with the bad weather lasting for more than two weeks.

Editor:Xiong Qu