China's railways expect an 8.3 percent increase in passengers from a year ago during the lunar New Year period, with a traffic flow of 178.6 million passengers between January 23 to March 2, the Ministry of Railways said on Wednesday.

Sun Shunhu, an official with the Ministry of Railways, yesterday told the central government's portal Website that the prices of train tickets will not be raised during this year's Spring Festival travel peak.

China had raised train fares to control the number of railway passengers during the nation's busiest travel season over the past few years.

The 40-day railway peak period is the world's biggest movement of population with the number of people traveling for the Spring Festival almost equivalent to the population of Brazil.

The Spring Festival falls on February 7 this year. Many migrant workers get home for family gatherings only once a year at this time.

Big crowds are expected at major transport hubs in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in the first 15 days of the period because of the number of tourists and migrant workers and students all anxious to go home.

Over the next 25 days, passenger flow will be greatest in cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang, Hefei and Fuyang in southwest and east China as migrants head back for work after the holidays.s

The Ministry of Railways said it is to arrange extra trains to cope.

China's railways transport more than three million people on average every day, and the number climbs to 4.5 million during the Spring Festival peak. In big cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu, trains transport about 100,000 passengers a day.

(Shanghai Daily January 4, 2008)