Beijing expects 300,000 train passengers on last spring festival

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Chinese media) -- Railway stations in the Chinese capital

anticipates another travel peak as the weeklong Spring Festival ends on

Saturday.

About 300,000 people are expected to arrive in Beijing by train on

Saturday, according to the municipal transport authorities.

The number of in-bound train passengers reached the climax on Friday, and

is expected to last for about at least a week, Saturday's "Beijing Times" quoted

the municipal railway bureau as saying.

The west railway station received 140,000 passengers on Friday, 20,000 more

than the same day of last year, and the number is to hit 160,000 on Saturday,

said Jin Long, deputy party secretary of the station.

The station will add 40 pairs of temporary passenger trains on Saturday,

said Jin, who admitted that the transport pressure will continue until Feb. 9,

or the Chinese Lantern Festival, as the flow of migrant workers and university

students will be subdued by then.

The station will also add about 20 to 30 temporary passenger trains a day

from Sunday on.

The Beijing railway station has seen steady passenger inflows in the past

few days, while the south railway station witnessed a sharp increase in

short-haul passengers which numbered 35,000 on Friday.