Delayed rail travelers get back on track ( 2003-07-08 06:55) (China Daily)
Thousands of rail passengers stranded after key rail links were severed by
floods in South China are back on the move.
In Shanghai, all cargo trains have been stopped and five passenger services
--K34, 1478, 2106, 5106 and 5030 -- are still unavailable, while ten other
passenger trains have been restored after being stopped by the floods, according
to the Shanghai Railway Administration.
Up to 50,000 travellers were delayed, but most of them have now resumed their
journeys.
The administration has called on people planning to travel north to pay
attention to the latest flood information displayed at the city's two main
railway stations.
Hit by rainstorms in the area of Huaihe River and the Yangtze River since the
morning of July 5, sections of the railway line from Chuzhou to Danzi and Danzi
to Wuyi in Anhui Province collapsed and 15.4 kilometres of railroad was flooded.
To minimize the impact of the flood, the rail schedule was adjusted
accordingly.
Fifteen passengers trains have been diverted across the Wuhu Yangtze Bridge
which is part of Jingjiu Railroad (Beijing to Jiujiang line) from the normal
route on the Jinghu Railroad (Beijing to Shanghai line.)
The Jinpu Railroad (Tianjin to Pukou in Nanjing) has resumed operations with
an 80 kilometres per hour speed limit on the section from Chuzhou to Danzi and
speed limits as low as 25 kilometres per hour are in force on the section from
Wuyi to Danzi.
By press time, these trains have basically resumed operations thanks to the
effort of 20,000 railway workers, soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and
armed police.
The land passenger route to Mengcheng in Anhui Province has resumed after the
stoppage over the weekend due to flooding.
Other long-distance routes have not yet been affected, but most bus routes
have witnessed a growing number of passengers as more people turn away from
trains, according to Wu Runyuan of the Shanghai Land Transport Administration.
Air transportation is recovering after SARS, but it is hard to say if the 90
per cent occupancy rate on flights to Hefei in Anhui and Xuzhou in Jiangsu in
recent days was a direct result of the flooded railroad, according to the
marketing department of Shanghai Airlines.
China Eastern Airlines is to upgrade its planes on the routes to Beijing and
Urumqi today and it is also planning to add one daily flight to Taiyuan in
Shanxi Province and Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, taking more passengers off
the railroad, said a source at its marketing department.
In Nanjing, the capity city of Jiangsu Province, the downpour over the last
three days drenched a few major streets in the city, disrupting public
transportation for hours.
Because of the railway damage in some area in Anhui
Province, 16 northbound trains have stopped operations in the last three days,
delaying over 10,000 passengers at Nanjing railway station. It is reported that
in the next two days, another 15 northbound trains will not operate until the
railway is repaired.
