CRI听力： China Fights against Blizzards to Limit Snow-related Chaos Ahead of Spring Festival

Heavy snow in south central China, the worst in 50 years in some areas, is snarling roads, railways and airports recently, as the bad weather is expected to worsen while millions of travelers head home for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Chinese authorities have spared no effort in combating snow-inflicted woes and reducing the negative impact to the least extent. CRI Reporter Chen Xi has the details.

Reporter:

The Chinese Ministry of Railways has recently mobilized 35 extra trains to help disperse about 500,000 passengers who were stranded in Guangzhou, the capital of the southern Guangdong Province, due to the heavy snowfall which has been plaguing a number of Chinese provinces in recent days.

Millions of travelers are currently struggling to make their annual trip home as the Spring Festival, the most important Chinese holiday, is only nine days away.

Passenger build-up in Guangzhou has been particularly heavy because the southern end of the Beijing-Guangzhou rail line, a north-south trunk railroad, has been paralyzed because of heavy snow in the central Hunan Province, where power transmission facilities have been knocked out.

Spokesperson of the Ministry of Railways, Wang Yongping revealed priorities in the daily work for the ministry to ensure the power supply.

"In the upcoming week, whether the severe weather and the power transmission conditions would turn better place tremendous challenge for us, which are also the key areas in our work."

In addition, free bus services were provided to take migrant workers back to their work sites if they choose not to travel home for the holiday.

Guangzhou stopped selling railway tickets and announced that tickets previously purchased could be returned without a service charge. However, most passengers have been reluctant to return their tickets, hoping that railway operations would resume soon.

Adding to the woes, seven of the eight highways connecting Guangdong and Hunan provinces have been cut off, which adds more pressure to the transportation system in the country.

Due to icy roads, long-distance bus travel was largely curtailed for much of the last week in the areas hardest hit by the snowfall, which almost brought traffic to a standstill.

Communications Ministry spokesman He Jianzhong said information exchange amongst the areas is important.

"We particularly request the departments of communications locally to strengthen the inter-province information exchange, which will avoid the highway traffic due to information jam and other reason."

In terms of air travel, airports in at least 10 cities, such as Wuhan, Nanjing, Guiyang and Changzhou, were closed temporarily on Monday.

At Shanghai Pudong International Airport, 96 international flights were canceled or delayed on Sunday and Monday. The authorities reminded passengers to check flight information before heading to the airport.

Huanghua Airport in Changsha, Hunan's capital, has been closed for four consecutive days and more than 10,000 stranded passengers have been temporarily accommodated in nearby hotels.

Wang Ronghua is a senior official with the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China.

"We will, under the circumstances of complete security, try our best to allow more airliners to take off at proper time, reducing the impact from the bad weather condition."

The China Meteorological Administration or CMA has issued a red alert early on Monday for severe snowstorms in the central and eastern parts of the country.

The CMA warned local governments and departments to prepare for the coming bad weather. Transport, railway, electricity and communication departments were advised to prepare post-snow clean-ups, while suggesting citizens in these areas should avoid unnecessary outdoor activities.

Chen Xi, CRI News