A total of 1,260 migrant workers who have been sweating at major construction sites in Beijing boarded a special train on Monday evening that will take them to their homes in central China in time for Spring Festival.

They are the only passengers on the 18-carriage train and are expected to arrive in their home town of Shiyan, Hubei Province at 11:56 AM Tuesday.

"It is a heartwarming move by the Beijing government," said Fu Yanzhi, who has worked in Beijing for the past seven years. "It was so difficult to get a homebound ticket before the Spring Festival."

According to officials with the Beijing federation of trade unions, all the 1,260 workers worked on key projects in Beijing including the Olympic facilities, Beijing airport and Beijing South Railway Station.

The move will help farmer workers go home safe and early, according to the officials.

Fu and his fellow townsmen are lucky because their transport is laid on. China's Spring Festival travel season started on Saturday with the world's largest annual mass migration of people, and buying a train ticket was a daunting task for many people working in big cities and eager to reunite with their family during Spring Festival.

The Ministry of Railways estimates the country's railways will carry 156 million passengers during the 40-day Spring Festival period. That's 4.3 percent more passengers than last year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2007)