Ministry of Transportation: Focus on targeted prevention and control to ensure safe travels during the Spring Festival Period in cold and rainy weather conditions.

Today, the Ministry of Transport held a press conference. Gao Bo, Deputy Director of the Transport Service Department, stated that during the Spring Festival travel rush period, there is a high demand for travel, concentrated travel times, high load operation of transportation tools, and the added risk of frequent accidents due to severe weather conditions such as low temperatures, rain, snow, and ice. The tasks of safety production and emergency security are arduous. After comprehensive assessment, the Ministry of Transport has identified the five major risks during this year's Spring Festival travel rush. The Ministry will formulate work plans step by step, and guide the local transportation departments to implement targeted prevention and control measures to ensure the safe, orderly, and smooth travel of the people. The first is to prevent and respond to cold weather, rain, snow, and ice disasters. Guides will be issued for consultation and assessment with meteorological departments, timely release of weather warnings, strengthening response, inspection, and control, urging enterprises to implement proactive defense measures, and stopping operations or evacuating when conditions are not safe. Emphasis will be placed on preventing road icing in the south, snowstorms in the north, and coastal fog, pre-positioning emergency response teams, materials, and equipment, and timely and effective response. The second is to ensure the charging service for new energy vehicles. By compiling a list of service areas with high demand for charging on highways, a tailored charging guarantee plan will be implemented, maximizing the number of charging spots, installing high-power quick charging equipment, providing mobile charging facilities, enhancing charging information dissemination and guidance, and improving the capacity of charging service assurance during the Spring Festival. The third is to ensure smooth traffic on busy sections of highways. Early assessment will be conducted to identify sections prone to congestion on highways, and targeted governance measures will be employed. A mobile-based control system will be established with the public security traffic management departments to strengthen command, guidance, and order maintenance at key points. Free emergency rescue will be encouraged, quick response and compensation for accidents will be implemented, and the capacity of road networks will be enhanced. The fourth is to ensure the smooth operation of key passageways for large passenger flows. Guidance will be given to provinces such as Hainan, Guangdong, and Guangxi to continue implementing the "appointment pass" and pre-sale of tickets for the Qiongzhou Strait, improve the mechanism for suspending or resuming sailings in foggy weather, and implement free return services for rental vehicles in Hainan island, ensuring efficient and smooth transportation through the Qiongzhou Strait. The fifth is to enhance the safety management of commercial vehicle and ship transportation. Measures will be taken to monitor and rectify the "two passengers and one dangerous goods" clear-up and control, implement a classification and grading safety supervision based on coded results, enhance the control of major risks during the Spring Festival holiday, and ensure transportation safety. Supervisory inspections of vessel airworthiness and crew competence will be carried out to ensure the safety of water passenger transportation.