In an emergency the normal rules do not apply. The current snow has created serious emergencies in China. So the government has mobilized all the cargo trains to ensure coal transport for electricity supply of the snow-hit regions.

The latest ministry figures showed more than 42,200 container trucks were loaded with power coal in one day last week.

The line between Datong in coal producing province of Shanxi and Qinhuangdao, a port city in Hebei Province, a railway which is exclusively used for heavily-loaded coal transport trains, also set a new daily freight record of one million tonnes.

Last week China’s cabinet installed an emergency command center on Friday morning to coordinate contingency measures for coal, oil and power supply, and transport and disaster relief in the country’s snow-hit regions.

About half the country’s cargo trains, some 300,000 in all, are railway container trucks for the transport of such staple goods as minerals, building materials, timber and steel products.

The worst-hit Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces have been put under close scrutiny.

Hunan’s Chenzhou, for instance, has been cut off from power and water over the past eight days, leaving thousands of households dark and cold. The cities of Hengyang and Yongzhou have also experienced periodic blackouts.

As the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway is currently under pressure from passenger transport, the Railway Ministry urged cargo trains to take roundabout routes to deliver the coal as quickly as possible.
Source: CargoNews Asia

Premier Wen Jiabao has urged all departments concerned to ensure safe and smooth transportation during the traditional Chinese New Year holidays.

In truth, these exhortations are probably unnecessary because China rail and air all seem to be well organized and immensely keen on moving the largest amount of people ever moved at one time in the world. The only serious worry will be the weather.

Premier Wen Jiboa visited a service zone of an expressway and a railway station and inspected the traffic situation before and during the Spring Festival holidays, the busiest travel season in the country.

The Spring Festival traffic season is 20 days ahead and 20 days after the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on February 7 this year. All kinds of traffic will be busy with shipping homebound passengers and food and major industrial goods.

The problem is that since January 12, rare snowfalls, the heaviest in decades for some central and southern provinces, have further worsened the traffic problems in the country. Many expressways and airports have been closed, forcing many passengers to choose railways as their option.

The Beijing West Railway Station, which is expected to see 22 million outgoing and incoming passengers during the Spring Festival transportation season, has opened 266 ticket windows.

The Ministry of Railways recently estimated that railway passengers are likely to reach 178.6 million between January 23 and March 2. Migrant workers account for 70% of the railway passengers.
Source: China View