The season includes the Spring Festival holiday period, the most important traditional holiday for family reunion for Chinese people, and the winter vacation of universities.

According to the Ministry of Railways, the 40-day 2003 Spring Transport Season will run from Jan. 17, when most students will begin to leave universities for their winter vacation and people will begin going back to their hometowns for the festival, which will fall on Feb. 1 this year.

Days after the festival till Feb. 25 will be another peak period for travel, when people will be going back to their universities or working cities.

Liu Jianmin, deputy director of the Shanghai Railway Administration, said that the administration will make available an additional 217 passenger trains to handle the nearly 1.83 million additional passengers.

The administration will also provide more efficient service by setting up special ticket sales counters for workers and college students and special reception centers for workers.

Liu said that 15 million yuan (US$1.8 million) will be spent on improving train facilities.

(Xinhua News Agency January 3, 2003)