BEIJING, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- China saw its railway
transportation volume account for a quarter of the world's total last year, with
only 6 percent of global operational railway mileage, the Ministry of Railways
(MOR) has said.
China beat all other countries in passenger and cargo
traffic by railway last year, with its passenger turnover hitting 662.2 billion
person-kilometers and freight turnover reaching 2.87 billion ton-kilometers, MOR
spokesperson Wang Yongping said on Friday.
The general railway turnover also topped the world
with a total of 2.86 trillion ton-kilometers, 130 billion ton-kilometers more
than that of the United States and one and a half times that of Russia.
Meanwhile, the country has only 76,600 kilometers of
railways in operation, making the density of its railway transportation the
largest in the world.
"Although China's railways have the highest
efficiency of transport, they still lag far behind the nation's economic and
social development," said Wang.
The country can provide more than 2.42 million seats
for railway travelers every day, only half the number of daily passenger traffic
during the peak season of the Spring Festival, China's traditional New Year
Festival.
In 40 days starting from Feb. 3, more than 156
million passengers will travel by trains, according to the ministry's
estimation.
But even before the busiest period, Beijing's largest
railway station was already hit by its first peak of passenger traffic.
The Beijing West Railway Station is expected to see
110,000 passengers depart on Saturday, most of them college students going home
for winter vacation, said the station's spokesperson Saturday.
While millions of Chinese, the bulk of them students
and migrant workers, travel home by train to spend the Spring Festival with
their families.
During the Spring Festival, the Ministry of Railways
will strictly regulate ticket selling, crack down on scalpers and improve
services aboard like food, water supply and hygiene, said Liu Zhijun, MOR
Minister.
"With an extreme shortage in railway transportation
capacity, we'll face even bigger pressure for this Spring Festival," said Liu.
He urged the railway departments to ensure the safety
of travelers and get fully prepared for emergencies.
