MORE than 50,000 passengers were stuck at Guangzhou Railway Station and facing long delays due to snowy and icy weather as millions in China make their way to their hometown for the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 8 this year.

    Huge queues were seen in the square outside the train station with some passengers kept standing for more than 10 hours as at least 32 trains were delayed, the news website Southcn.com reported yesterday.

    Guangzhou’s railway authorities said the delays were caused by snowy weather in northern China and cold in Jiangxi, Hubei and Hunan provinces, China News Service reported. Bad weather has caused 24 trains to be delayed, said Chen Jianping, spokesperson for Guangzhou Railway Group Corp.

    It is estimated that more than 175,000 passengers would depart from the station yesterday, the 10th day of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush — a major event in China.

    Millions of Chinese will travel by train, bus, car and plane during the period.

    The railway authorities have taken emergency measures to evacuate the stranded passengers, launching a level-three emergency plan Monday afternoon with a level-two security plan launched by Guangzhou police.

    Security has been stepped up around the station with more than 2,600 guards deployed, China News Service said.

    Subway trains stopped ferrying passengers to the railway station after 10:30 a.m. yesterday to help with crowd control measures, according to radio reports in the city.

    Roads near the station square were sealed off two days ago and taxis are banned from driving close by.

    Since the 11 waiting rooms and the waiting hall can only hold 23,000 people, the station is rolling out restrictive measures in an attempt to avoid the dangers of overcrowding, according to Chen. Only passengers due to depart within two hours can enter the waiting hall inside the station, Chen said.

    Chen said the company had also reduced the arrival/dispatch cross-over time for each train.

    The station is also publicizing real-time arrival and departure information via various outlets like microblog sites and messaging apps, such as WeChat. So far, high-speed trains at the station have not been affected.

    The railway authorities said some passengers went to the station two days ahead of their journey.

    Passengers are advised to check their train’s departure time before arriving and should only be at the station three hours before their train leaves.

    Journeys home during China’s Spring Festival are widely considered to make up the world’s biggest annual migration of people.

    Some 2.91 billion train journeys are expected to be made during the 40-day travel season, which runs from Jan. 24 to March 3.

    That is an increase of 100 million passengers over the holiday period last year.

    (SD-Xinhua)