Han Ximin
DRIVERS in fear of being stranded on Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway in northern Guangdong because of icy roads will be able to take Qinglian Expressway after the Liannan section opens Jan. 25.
The 215km Qinglian Expressway extends from Qingxin County in northern Guangdong to Lianzhou, which borders Hunan Province.
The expressway connects Guangqing (Guangzhou-Qingyuan) Expressway in the south and Yifeng Expressway in Hunan Province in the north. It is said to be a fast north-south expressway between the two provinces.
Qinglian Expressway runs parallel with Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, but it is advantaged with a low altitude, about 300-500 meters lower, and is unlikely to be frozen or blanketed with fog, the Shenzhen Expressway Co. said Wednesday.
The city s meteorological observatory expects another four to five cold fronts to affect the city during the Spring Festival transport season. Icy weather was possible in Hunan, Guizhou, northern Guangdong and Fujian mountain areas.
The Shenzhen transport commission had ordered long-distance bus operators to prepare contingency plans for extreme weather such as sleet and snow that could paralyze traffic as happened in January 2008.
In another development, ticket counters at Shenzhen Railway Station will sell train tickets two days ahead of departure dates from Friday. Temporary schedules for trains to Chengdu in Sichuan Province, Chongqing, and Yueyang in Hunan Province were announced Thursday.
The L76 train to Chengdu will depart Shenzhen at midnight from Jan. 19 and L526 train to Chongqing will depart at 2 a.m. from Jan. 20. Temporary trains to Yueyang will depart at 9:26 a.m. from Jan. 23.
