BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- China's Railway Ministry will soon start a project to help migrant workers return to their homes safely for the 2007 Spring Festival, China's Lunar New Year.

    Railway departments will provide migrant workers in Chinese cities with advance group train tickets to help them return to their hometowns before the Spring Festival. They will also increase the number of tickets available and open more sales counters.

    "We will send our staff to migrant workers' work sites and living residences to help them buy group tickets in advance," an official from the Railway Ministry said Thursday.

    According to the Ministry's new plan for passenger transportation during the Spring Festival, all railway bureaus should have clear information on migrant workers' movements before and after the holiday to help them draft effective ticket distribution plans, as well as emergency plans.

    The peak passenger transport period for the Spring festival this year will last 40 days, from February 3 to March 14. Peak passenger flows will reach a record high with an estimated 156 million passengers expected to catch trains over this period, a 4.3 percent increase over last year.