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INTRO
Train stations, airports and bus stations are getting more and more crowded in the coming days, as hundreds of millions of Chinese are making their way back home ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year.
Chinese authorities have made more efforts to ensure the annual massive migration going smoothly in the next 40 days' peak travel season.
On Saturday, also the first day of the travel season, major railway stations across the country have seen big volume of passengers making their way home...
SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) HUANG NI, Guangzhou Station Vice Station-master:
"Today's passenger volume in our station reached 136,000. The peak time of today is 7 a.m. and between 12 a.m. to 4 p.m. as well as 7 p.m. to 10 p.m."
People are happy about being able to go back home and get together with their families and friends.
With 3.41 billion trips expected to be made during the travel peak time, China's railway authorities have arranged 358 more passenger trains for the next 40 days...
And the travel rush is set to strain the capacity of China's transport system, especially the railway.
In Beijing, it is estimated that the number of travels during the Spring Festival season this year will increase 3 percent compared to last year...
SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) SONG JIANGUO, Beijing West Rail Station:
"We estimate that the passenger volume in Beijing West Rail Station during the Spring Festival is to reach 5,560,000. It is a 3 percent increase. As a result, we added some temporary trains to cope with the surging demand..."
Despite recent rail expansions, trains are under even higher pressure from limited capacity, this year... It is estimated around 225 million people will go home on rail.
Booking a ride home is not easy ... you have to struggle against others over the phone, or online, or stand in a long queue for hours.
SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) MR. CHEN
"I had to queue for almost five hours to get my ticket. But now, as long as I got one, I'm happy. Because I can go home."
SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) MS. LI
"I tried to get a ticket online, but I failed. Then I called the booking center, the only ticket available is a temporary added slow train one, which means I'll have to spend nearly 21 hours on the train... "
But all these won't stop people from going home for the family reunion.
Apart from railway, the Ministry of Transport says about 840,000 coaches as well as 13,000 ships will join in the nationwide transportation.
And China's airlines adopted a similar approach by increasing the combined transport capacity to handle 35.5 million journeys, up 4.9 percent from the same period last year.
The Spring Festival falls on Feb. 10 this year. It is traditionally the most important holiday for the Chinese people, and an occasion for family reunion.
The travel rush will finish on March 6.
