Migrant workers in Beijing will find it easier to buy train tickets home this year during the Spring Festival travel season, which usually sees the movement of tens of millions of people across the country.

For the first time Beijing's railway authority says it has set up exclusive counters for migrant workers to buy group tickets during the peak Spring Festival travel period, which started on January 1st this year.

Yao Hongren is the spokesman of the Beijing West Railway, which saw 200,000 travelers on the New Year's Day.

"If more than 20 migrant workers would like to buy tickets on the same train, their companies can book group tickets at the exclusive counter. If a relatively large number of migrant workers would like to buy tickets, for example more than 500, we will ask the Beijing Railway Bureau to arrange a specially chartered train for them."

Railway officials in Beijing said there were more than 300,000 travelers at railway stations in the capital city on the first day of the peak travel period.

The increasing number of passengers across the country, mostly migrant workers and college students, has pushed the start of the annual 40-day peak transportation period ahead 10 days during Spring Festival, which falls on January 26th this year.

Two of the capital's major railway stations, the Beijing Railway Station and the Beijing West Railway Station, will add more than 180 extra nonstop passenger trains during the travel peak period from January 1st to February 19th.

They already have more than 400 ticket counters operating around-the-clock.