This Day, That Year

Item from Feb 5, 1985, in China Daily: Busy times at Beijing Railway Station. Passengers have to line up in the open these days as the coming Spring Festival, the most popular holiday in China, has brought a huge passenger boom. About 300,000 people go through the station every day.

Chunyun, the peak travel period of the Spring Festival holiday, has always been one of the most challenging times for the transportation sector.

This year's 40-day travel frenzy, which started on Jan 24, is expected to involve nearly 3 billion trips, up 3.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Transport. More than 85 percent of trips will be made on roads, and 11 percent through railways.