China: Train brings the strain

[John Ashworth]

There's also an audio slideshow on this here

Train brings the strain as Chinese travellers attempt to head for home

Record number of travellers take to railways for lunar new year holiday, with many frustrated as tickets sell out

* Tania Branigan in Beijing
* guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 January 2011 12.38 GMT

One man built a mannequin to hold his place in the queue, while another stripped naked in protest after waiting in vain for 14 hours.

Few Chinese travellers go to those lengths to buy train tickets, but most can sympathise with their frustrations as next week's lunar new year approaches.

A record 230 million people are taking to the railways for China's biggest holiday – 35 million more than five years ago – and the fight for a seat or sleeper booth is tougher than ever.

The jostling crowds at Beijing West station have reason to be on edge – one batch of tickets at the station sold out in just 30 minutes.

"This year it's been extremely hard to get one," said Zhang Xiuhua, who queued for seven hours overnight in temperatures as low as -10C but found everything had sold out by the time he reached the front.

The next day, he emerged victorious after a second, 11-hour wait.

"Last year I went back by bus, but this year those tickets are difficult to get too," added the 34-year-old housekeeper.

His wife is not sure if she can return to their hometown in Anhui, where their parents and nine-year-old son live, because she is still working and tickets go on sale only a few days before the date of travel.

Officials say travellers will make a total of 2.85bn trips over the 40-day period. Most are migrant workers returning home to see parents, children and other family members. For many, it is a once-a-year reunion, while for some it is the first time they have gone back for several years.

Journeys can take 30 or 40 hours, and only the better off can afford sleeper tickets or comfortable soft seats. But the mood is usually convivial, with people chatting, playing cards and chewing their way through mountains of sunflower seeds.

"It's OK if we just get standing tickets – Henan is not too far away. It only takes 10 hours or so," Cai Xuewei, a 39-year-old labourer, said as his friend queued for tickets.

Earlier this month, the railways ministry said the ticket shortage would be largely solved by 2015. But Chinese websites pointed to its earlier pledges that the issue would be dealt with by 2010 and then 2012.

The problem is not only rising demand as the number of migrant workers, students and domestic tourists increase. "The ultimate reason is that business and politics are interdependent," Zhao Jian, a professor at the management school at the Beijing University of Transportation, said.

"Because the ministry of railways is not financially responsible for what it is doing and at the same time can direct investment, they do whatever they want to do, or whatever they think would look good – like building high speed railways – instead of what people need.

"Ninety-four per cent of Chinese people still rely on hard seat and hard sleeper tickets when they travel."

Among those still hoping for a ticket is the man who stripped and ran naked through Jinhua station, in Zhejiang province, last week.

A manager promised to arrange tickets home for the protester's family, but Chen Weiwei – now better known to his compatriots as "Running Naked Man" – told Chinese media he had yet to receive them.