Though China's railway network is starting normal operation after a heavy snow paralyzed some of the country's trunk lines for more than 24 hours, railway managers cannot yet feel relieved.

The Beijing West Railway Station will continue the red-level emergency warning scheme until the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar new year which falls on Jan. 29, said a station official Saturday.

More than 100,000 passengers were stranded at the station after the heavy snow in central Henan Province delayed more than 20 trains to leave the capital on Thursday.

The official said the station is expected to see more than 140,000 passengers leaving every day in the following week.

The station launched the top level warning scheme Thursday for the first time after it was put into use 10 years ago.

In Shanghai, 17 trains to leave or arrive were delayed Saturday, leaving about 10,000 passengers stranded.

The Shanghai Railway Station decided to suspend the sale of tickets for 17 westward trains since Saturday.

Expecting passengers may choose coaches as an alternative, the metropolis' transportation authorities decided to increase 140 runs of coaches on a basis of the original 960.

In Xi'an, capital of northwestern Shaanxi Province, more than 4,000 train passengers were delayed Saturday, though freeways and the airport had resumed normal operation there.

Heavy snow began to hit a large area of China on Wednesday morning. Snow-caused delay added more tension to the already-overloaded passenger transportation system during the holiday season of the Spring Festival, an occasion for family reunion. 

The Spring Festival travel peak started last Saturday. During the 40-day peak season, from Jan. 14 to Feb. 22, a record over 2 billion migrant workers, students and tourists will travel to and fro to hometowns and holiday destinations.

The snow also held up about 60,000 train passengers Thursday in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of Henan and a hub on the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, a major north-to-south railway line.

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2006)