Eine Masse von chinesische Passagiere auf ihrem Weg zurück zum Frühlingsfest oder das Chinesische Neue Jahr warten für Züge an der Qingdao Railway Station in Qing
A crowd of Chinese passengers on their way back for the Spring Festival or the Chinese New Year wait for trains at the Qingdao Railway Station in Qingdao city, east Chinas Shandong province, 26 January 2013. Chinese authorities added extra travel contingencies to ensure the smooth kick-off on Saturday (26 January 2013) of the worlds largest annual migration that starts before the Lunar New Year. Railway authorities arranged 358 more passenger trains on Saturday to start handling the estimated 5.2 million daily trips over the next 40 days peak travel season, said Zhao Chunlei, an official with the Ministry of Railways. A record 3.41 billion trips are expected to be made over this years Lunar New Year travel rush, as Chinese who have worked away from home see the holiday as the most important occasion for family reunion. The countrys rail network is expected to handle 225 million trips, while long-distance buses will see up to 3.1 billion passengers, which combine to account for 99 percent of the overall national capacity, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
