All the additional trains arranged particularly for the return of these workers have been overloaded since Thursday, when passenger flow started to pick up, said a railway source in Shanghai.

During the post-spring holiday peak season, the railway system expects to carry over 700,000 passengers from Fuyang, Anhui Province, one of the major sources of migrating workers across China. Saturday alone saw over 25,000 migrating workers leaving Fuyang by train.

Most long distance buses have resumed service after a five-day recess, to carry over 40,000 migrating workers from the neighboring Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Hubei provinces back to Shanghai over the past two days.

Sources there said the transport industry is ready for the coming week of post-holiday peak season, when some 50,000 migrating workers are expected to arrive here by bus and over 20,000 will be coming by train, in addition to tourists and students who are scheduled to return for the spring semester.

(Xinhua News Agency February 16, 2002)