Railway passengers in China may have to travel on crowded trains and some will not be unable to go home during this holiday season, as Chinese railways lack vehicles to withstand the rush.

China needs an additional 9,730 railway cars to carry all the passengers expected during this year's Spring Festival travel season. However, there are only 4,500 cars in excess available, resulting in a shortage of 5,000, according to a source at the Ministry of Railways Saturday.

When the annual 40-day Spring Festival travel season comes around, the country's daily passenger demand jumps to 3.5 million-4.3 million persons every day.

It is estimated that more than five million people, including university students, migrant workers and people on home leave, will return to their hometowns from Beijing, requiring some 600 passenger trains.

When Spring festival approaches, Many people will stand in line at railway ticket preselling windows to buy tickets.

Some even get up very early to buy tickets. Normally they only can buy tickets several days ago.