BEIJING, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- About 141 trains have
been delayed nationwide by Saturday due to China's worst winter storm in
decades, affecting about 212,000 passengers, the Ministry of Public Security
said here on Saturday.
The Beijing-Guangzhou railway, the north-south trunk
route, however, had restored operation and its performance was improving, the
ministry said in a press release.
On Saturday, 168 trains arrived at stations adjacent
to Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong Province, and 185 left.
According to the Railways Ministry, 1.4 million
people were still waiting to leave Guangzhou by train as of Friday.
"All of them may be on a train by the Spring Festival
Eve," said Wang Yongping, a ministry spokesman.
Elsewhere, the Beijing-Zhuhai expressway, the
country's north-south trunk road, suffered a setback on Saturday.
The expressway section in Guangdong had reopened
traffic on Friday evening but the road was frozen again on Saturday morning, the
ministry said.
Local police were controlling traffic along a
20-kilometer stretch of south-bound lanes and had completely closed 14 km of
north-bound lanes because of ice.
At present, more than 600 people were de-icing the
expressway, the ministry said.
The worst snow in five decades in the country had so far killed60 people and forced nearly 1.76 million to relocate in 19 provinces and autonomous areas by Friday.
