As the peak railway travel season has hit Shanghai, the local authority has arranged unprecedented transport capacity for the upcoming holiday.

The shanghai Railway Administration yesterday announced its plan for the rush transport season brought about by the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on February 9.

The administration forecast that the city would transport up to 5.23 million travelers during the holiday period, 226,000 more than a year earlier.

To relieve heavy traffic during the period, the authority planned to add 50 temporary passenger services daily to some of the busiest routes departing from the city, such as the lines to Beijing, Chengdu (Sichuan Province), Fuyang (Anhui Province), Zhengzhou (Henan Province) and so on.

"Expanding capacity will allow us to transport 131,000 people every day on average," said Liu Lianqing, head of the administration.

He expected the city would have to transport as many as 180,000 travelers on the peak day.

The authority is also enhancing its ticket service coverage by expanding its sale network within the city, giving travelers more access to purchase tickets.

Under the plan, Shanghai Railway Station will add 91 temporary ticketing windows to increase the number in the station from the regular 185 to 276.

Furthermore, a special ticket selling location will be set up at Hongkou Gymnasium in the city's northeast, with 40 ticket windows.

The special ticketing situation will be operational from Saturday through February 5.

According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Railways, the price of tickets for some busy lines will fluctuate during certain periods.

From february 1 to 7, the price of tickets will rise for routes to Beijing, to Chengdu and so on. Prices of hard seat tickets will rise 15 percent. Other tickets will be 20 percent up.

Tickets for students and soldiers wounded or disabled because of heroic deeds will be unchanged.

(Shanghai Daily January 18, 2005)