Guangdong is well prepared for the Spring Festival holiday travel peak.

The provincial government held a teleconference Wednesday to arrange transport between Jan. 25 and March 5.

Also Wednesday, Guangzhou's commission of communications organized an emergency rehearsal at Liuhua, simulating a mass passenger delay at the provincial long-distance coach station. Back-up buses were used to clear the passengers in the simulation.

More than 110 million people are expected to travel during the period.

Guangdong Railway Group has planned a record 123 additional train routes for the holidays. There will be 203 train routes linking Guangdong and other regions before the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 9, and 219 routes after the festival. More than 600 policemen will crack down on ticket scalpers.

Long-distance buses will provide 1.25 million seats, while 40,000 people will travel by boat. The buses will be carefully checked for safety. There will be rest areas along some main roads for bus drivers and drivers must take a break if they drive more than 400 kilometers without a break, or 600 kilometers on expressways. For a bus with no relief driver, the driver will be required to have a rest after three hours of driving with a maximum of eight hours driving in a day.

Airports in Guangdong will see 42,000 flights arrive and depart during the holidays, carrying 3.8 million passengers.

(Shenzhen Daily January 14, 2005)