CRI听力: 'No Rush' for the Spring Festival Travel Rush

China's transportation authorities have stepped up efforts to provide adequate transportation capacity and improved service for millions of travelers as the Spring Festival travel peak, touted as the world's largest travel rush, starts Saturday.

CRI's Zheng Chenguang takes a look.

The Spring Festival, one of the happiest occasions for all Chinese who visit relatives for family reunions, has never been a happy time for the country's transportation authorities.

This year, official statistics indicate that China's road, rail and air transit systems will see an even greater number of passengers compared with last year.

In light of this, the country is taking several measures to alleviate the mounting pressure in the run-up to this year's Chinese Lunar New Year which falls on February 14th.

A new train station has just opened in Guangzhou, capital city of southern China's Guangdong Province—a mecca for the country's migrant workers.

A high speed train from Xi'an to Zhengzhou city will also start operating in early February to increase the transportation capacity between China's western and central regions.

Railway authorities have also promised running additional trains if ticket supplies fall short of demand on some lines.

Yao Hongren is spokesman of Beijing West Railway Station.

"On the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush, we put an additional 19 trains in service, mainly bound for Guangzhou, Chongqing and Chengdu."

Meanwhile, authorities are also looking at improving service standards for passengers. Thousands of new ticket booths have been opened across the country to make ticket purchases quicker and easier.

A pilot real-name railway ticketing system has also been launched to prevent ticket hoarding, a main cause of ticket scarcity during the Spring Festival.

Some passengers say they have noticed some minor changes while traveling by rail.

"The carriage is cleaner than before. The servicemen are very nice. We also noticed the great order and accurate departure time."

"Previously, nobody took care of my luggage. But this year, they have someone to help carry the luggage. This is a big difference."

Security remains a priority as public security departments have tightened checkpoints at railway stations.

Wang Hongwei is a public security expert at Renmin University in Beijing.(www.hXen.com)

"Last November's train accident in Russia and the failed Christmas attack on a U.S. airliner sent us a warning. That is we have to be vigilant and come up with enhanced security measures during the nationwide travel rush. I think it's reasonable and acceptable to restrict some personal freedoms when maintaining public security becomes the priority."

The Ministry of Railways estimates that the country's railways will handle 210 million passengers during the 40-day festival rush period, an increase of 9.5 percent over last year.

Zheng Chenguang, CRI news.