China rumbles as millions join holiday rush for home

As the Spring Festival draws near, hundreds of millions of Chinese studying or working away from home will try to return home in time for the holiday.

The 40-day travel peak began on Sunday, with passenger numbers expected to hit 2.3 billion.

This is the Guangzhou railway station. On Sunday alone, 79 trains depart from the station, carrying 150,000 people.

A passenger said, "My hometown is far in the Northwest, so I set off on the first day of the spring festival travel peak."

Xiao Wei, chief engineer of Guangzhou Railway Corp., said, "From Sunday, we added 20 percent more temporary runs. It is expected that 620-thousand passengers travel through our stations on Sunday."

There are long queues outside the ticket offices at the Beijing West Railway Station. To better serve travellers returning home, the station has opened a record number of 240 ticket offices this year.

720 extra trains began to operate around the country from Sunday. It is a same scenario at bus stations.

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