To relieve overcrowding at the Guangzhou Railway Station during the Spring Festival travel period, a 3,500-square-meter temporary waiting zone and another waiting room for long-distance travel will be opened soon.

These would take the total number of waiting rooms to 14 and passengers were being asked to arrive at the Guangzhou East Railway Station six hours ahead of scheduled train departures, the Information Times reported.

The total waiting area is now about 10,000 square meters, an increase of 3,500 square meters. Elevators and escalators, which are being installed from the second floor to the fourth floor, would be in use soon.

This year, the Spring Festival holiday travel period will last 40 days, from Jan. 25 to March 5.

During this period, 71 pairs of regular trains together with 26 pairs of temporary trains have been scheduled, an increase of 14 pairs, compared with last year. About 775,000 passengers are expected to leave Guangzhou from the East Railway Station 15 days before the Spring Festival, about the same as the 2004 figure. The average number of passengers a day was expected to almost double during the holidays, to 51,700, compared with the off-peak figure of 30,000.

A temporary ticket office, with 56 windows, will be open next to the provisional waiting room on the second floor.

(Shenzhen Daily January 20, 2005)