Railway operators are advising travelers to avoid leaving by rail from Shanghai on the three days from next Thursday because there are almost no tickets left.

"More than 100,000 tickets have been sold to group buyers of college students and migrant workers," said Han Yi, an official with Shanghai Railway Station. "Most these journeys happen to fall on January 15, 16 and 17."

Yesterday there were only a small number of tickets available for the three days to destinations including Kunming, Guangzhou and Haikou, while tickets from Shanghai to neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and nearby Anhui Province are still available.