Train tickets for this year's Spring Festival travel period from
January 23 to March 2 went on sale in Beijing on Sunday.
Passengers were able to book train tickets 10 days in advance
from 7:00 p.m.
According to the Beijing Railway Station, long queues had
developed in front of the ticket offices. Most of those waiting in
line were migrant workers with heavy bags on their shoulders.
Tickets to Sichuan Province, Chongqing Municipality and Jiangxi
Province, where a large number of migrant workers in Beijing come
from, sold like hot cakes, according to the railway station.
Many of these workers only get the chance to go home and see
their families once a year, during the Spring Festival, the most
important holiday for Chinese. But train tickets are difficult to
come by, since millions of Chinese are in the same boat.
China's railways are expected to carry a record 178.6 million
passengers during the 40 days, up from 156 million last year,
according to China's Ministry of Railways.
(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)