Han Ximin

SHENZHEN is endeavoring to open more schools to accommodate passengers stranded at railway stations with the number expected to reach 80,000 today.

Shenzhen Railway Station in Luohu and Shenzhen West Railway Station in Nanshan had opened 13 schools to accommodate around 15,000 passengers.

Buses at the railway stations were ordered to operate around the clock for the convenience of stranded passengers.

There were 56,000 passengers stranded at Shenzhen Railway Station and Shenzhen West Railway Station by yesterday afternoon.

Health authorities will station medical teams at schools today to provide necessary aid while the civil affairs bureau will provide food and clothing, according to an emergency plan unveiled at a conference yesterday.

The stations have stopped selling tickets for trains heading north before Feb. 6 and sent teams to shelters to refund fares to stranded passengers.

“The government will try its utmost to ensure the health and safety of the stranded passengers,” Vice Mayor Zhang Siping said yesterday.

“Even if traffic returned to normal, it would be impossible for everyone to go home, given the railway capacity,” said Zhang.

The city was expected to see off 5 million travelers before the Spring Festival, but as of yesterday, only 1.08 million people had left for home, according to a government announcement released yesterday. The government has called on residents to cancel travel plans and stay in Shenzhen for the holidays.

Shenzhen Party chief Liu Yupu and Mayor Xu Zongheng yesterday ordered relevant departments to ensure market supply and organize activities for migrant workers who stay in Shenzhen for the holidays.

“It is not a bad choice to stay in Shenzhen if the weather doesn’t permit us to go home,” said a migrant worker surnamed Xiao at Shenzhen Railway Station.

“It is not a bad idea to stay here for the festival because it is warm and we can visit parks and flower markets,” said Zhu, a migrant woman from Hunan who is now working at a company in Xili Township in Nanshan District.

To keep stranded passengers informed, railway authorities will text timetables to passengers from today.

Zhang said buses heading north had been halted and bus companies would ask drivers stranded on the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway to return to Shenzhen if possible. Bus passengers will also have fares refunded.

Around 180 buses from Shenzhen were stranded on the Shaoguan section of the expressway, leaving 4,000 passengers out in the cold.