BEIJING
Great rush has covered China, the most crowded country on earth, as the Chinese Spring Festival has approached and hundreds and millions of people are travelling to their hometowns for the holiday.
All areas of transport from airports to train stations are forcing their capacity as millions of immigrant workers are travelling to their homes to spend the first night of the festival with their families.
The main mean of transport in China, the railway is expected to carry 225 million people where 840 thousand buses and 13 thousand ships will also be in service. 3.41 billion journeys are expected to take place in the 40-day-long holiday.
The Spring Festival is the only time of the year where families with low income get the chance to travel thousands of kilometres to see their loved ones back at home.
Tens and thousands of people spend many days at the Beijing train station to find a ticket in cold weather as problems occur in online sales.
The immigrant workers face the challenge of very long journeys following their purchase of the ticket. Train travel can take over 24 hours followed by further land route to get to their villages.
Most of these immigrant workers, who are employed in the well established provinces in China thousands of kilometres away from their hometown, work on a very low salary and take their savings to their families at the end of the year. There is no guarantee that their job will be awaiting when they return to their work in the city after the holiday.
The greatest human movement which began in China on January 26, is expected to continue until March 6.
Wide safety measures are taken by the Ministry of Transport in China.
Reporting by Ali Ihsan Cam-Tevfik Durul
