Lingering fog, approaching rain, snow challenge festival transport

Special Report: Spring Festival Special 2009

BEIJING, Feb. 1 (Chinese media) -- Returning holidaymakers will face more challenges as fog lingered Sunday, the first working day after the Lunar New Year holiday, and rain and snow were expected to lash parts of the country in the next three days, the National Meteorological Center (NMC) said Sunday.

Meteorological departments in the provinces of Anhui, Jiangsu and Liaoning issued heavy fog warnings Sunday morning.

The NMC forecast fog and haze in parts of Liaoning, Sichuan, Guizhou, Henan, Zhejiang and other provinces. Visibility was reduced to less than 1,000 meters, and to within 200 meters in some regions.

The country is warned to brace for a new round of rain and snow in the next three days, which will hamper transport, the observatory added.

Light to moderate snow is forecast in parts of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Heilongjiang Province, Tibet and areas along the Yellow River and Huaihe River.

Showers will hit regions along Yangtze River and in south China.

Heavy fog starting Saturday forced flights and expressways to close in east and central China, delaying the return of thousands of people at the end of the weeklong break.

The NMC urged transport departments to take precautions to ensure a safe and orderly travel peak.

The authorities are seeking to avoid traffic disruption that would lead to thousands of stranded passengers, which happened during last year's Spring Festival rush as a result of the worst winter in south China in half a century.

The country would be expected to record 2.32 billion journeys over the 40 days before and after the Lunar New Year: 188 million by train, 2.077 billion by road, 24.20 million by air and 29 million by ship.

The country's airlines carried 4.02 million passengers during the Lunar New Year holiday from Jan. 25 to 31, up 20 percent from the holiday last year, according to the website of the Civil Aviation Administration.

The weeklong holiday also saw 32,212 flights, with the occupancy of flights to major cities. including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Kunming, Sanya and Lhasa, at more than 70 percent.

This year's travel peak for airlines started on Jan. 11. The average number of passengers per day reached 539,000, compared with the daily 500,000 people in last year's festival travel peak season.

Analysts said the air travel peak was yet to end as people would choose to travel after the holiday and students would return to school after the Chinese traditional Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb. 9.

The administration said domestic airlines had been fully prepared to meet travel demand.

In the 20 days since Jan. 11, China's railways recorded 87.93 million trips, 4.4 million daily on average, up 15.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the railway ministry.

Besides, 248 million travelers hit the roads from Jan. 25 to 31,up 5.6 percent from the same period last year, the Ministry of Transport said Saturday, but the number of traffic accidents was down 57.6 percent.

The traffic police and transport authorities have mounted a nationwide safety campaign on highways and main urban streets.