As of Tuesday noon, over 50,000 passengers at Guangzhou Railway Station were going nowhere fast -- as bad weather caused 24 trains to be delayed, according to Guangzhou Railway Group Corp.
It is estimated that more than 175,000 passengers will depart from the station on Tuesday, the 10th day of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush -- a major event in China. Millions of Chinese will travel by train, bus, car and plane over Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 8 this year.
Xinhua reporters saw large crowds at the station square at noon.
Chen Jianping, spokesperson for Guangzhou Railway Group Corp., said that more than 50,000 people were stuck in and around the station. The corporation has taken emergency measures to evacuate the stranded passengers, Chen said. Since the 11 waiting rooms and the waiting hall can only hold 23,000 people and the 16 temporary sheds only 20,000 people, the station is rolling out restrictive measures in an attempt to avoid the dangers of overcrowding, according to Chen.
Only passengers due to depart within two hours can enter the waiting hall, Chen said. Chen said the company had also reduced the arrival/dispatch cross-over time for each train. The station is also publicizing real-time arrival and departure information via various outlets such as microblog sites, media and messaging apps, such as WeChat. So far, high-speed trains at the station have not been affected, according to Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corp.
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