China gears up for holiday travel peak

Passengers are about to board the train for migrant workers at Hankou Railway Station in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Jan 23, 2014. (Xinhua/Hao Tongqian)

With China's Spring Festival only a week away, local authorities have been urged to ensure safe and smooth trips during the busiest time for the country's transport system.

Feng Zhenglin, deputy head of the Ministry of Transport (MOT), said in a meeting on Thursday that the coming week will be the busiest time in this year's "chunyun," the 40-day travel rush around the Spring Festival, China's most important holiday for family reunions.

Chunyun has always been a test for China's transport infrastructure as most people will go home for a week-long holiday around the Spring Festival that falls on Jan. 31 this year.

In the next seven days, travelers on roads and waterways may make as high as 100 million trips, Feng forecast.

The number of road passengers, or those on long-distance scheduled coaches, charted buses or tour coaches, has topped 80 million for five consecutive days to reach 91.72 million on Thursday, MOT data showed.

Local transport authorities must intensify efforts to organize transport, Feng said, adding that they should ensure sufficient vehicles are reserved for emergent cases, improve emergency response plans and work hand in hand with meteorological and police departments.

Feng also urged them to ensure transport safety during chunyun by enhancing supervision of transportation companies, bus stations and ports.

The ministry has forecast that Chinese passengers will make 3.62 billion trips during this year's chunyun, 3.2 billion being by road.