Road, train and air services were all affected, delaying returning holidaymakers during the peak Spring Festival travel period.

For hundreds of passengers aboard Train T38 which left Wuhan on Sunday evening for Beijing, a scheduled 12-hour trip turned out to be a journey they would not forget.

For nearly 10 hours, they were stranded in their carriages south of Xuchang, a medium-sized city in southern Henan Province, as heavy snow blanketed their view from the windows.

A 16-hour power cut at the Xuchang section of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway caused by a snowstorm coupled with fierce winds forced trains to a standstill.

The T38, scheduled to arrive in Beijing early yesterday morning, was only able to move on at 9 am yesterday after emergency repairs restored power. It arrived in Beijing at 6 pm yesterday.

The heaviest snow and strongest winds in years swept Henan Province on Sunday afternoon, breaking the electric wires along the rail transport artery.

Local transport authorities said hundreds of rail workers were immediately sent to the site and, 16 hours later, the power supply and signal system were restored and transport returned to normal.

Sources said several passenger trains starting from or passing Zhengzhou were forced to wait at local stations for a couple of hours, but were able to continue their journeys as soon as power was recovered.

But passengers said the disruptions were more severe than local transport authorities claimed. They said dozens of passenger trains were stalled at the station for at least 10 hours.

"Several trains stopped in front of us as more trains came and queued up in the rear," said Qin Jize, a passenger aboard T38.

"The unexpected delay has shattered our work plan, and passengers were unhappy as no one would tell us what had happened and how long we would have to wait," she said.

Passengers were forced to rely on their mobile phones to inform their employers, friends and relatives of the delay.

"I've just called my boss to ask for leave as I will not be able to go to work as planned," said Jin Xiaogang, a computer worker in Beijing.

Most passengers aboard the train were rushing back to Beijing to return to work after a long Spring Festival vacation.

Henan's road and air transportation was also affected by the bad weather on Sunday as expressways and airports were forced to close.

The Xinzheng Airport in Zhengzhou shut down at 7 pm on Sunday, and 56 flights were delayed or transferred to nearby airports. Some 5,000 passengers were stranded at the airport. The airport reopened yesterday at noon.

The expressway between Anyang and Xinxiang was closed from 4 pm on Sunday, while Zhengzhou-Zhumadian and Shangqiu-Sanmenxia expressways were forced to shut that evening.

Traffic sources said the surfaces of expressways were covered with snow and ice and unfit for normal use.

Reports from the Henan meteorological station said the severe weather would end today, and most parts of the province would experience clear or cloudy weather.

(China Daily February 11, 2003)