Chinese Vice-Premier Huang Ju Sunday called on transportation departments across the country to strengthen coordination of the Spring Festival transportation work to ensure safety of travelers.

At a national transportation conference held here on Sunday, Huang stressed the importance of safety during the Spring Festival travel season, which started on Saturday.

About 2 billion people will travel by rail and bus during the upcoming Spring Festival (Lunar New Year), which falls on Jan. 29, up 3.1 percent over the corresponding period of last year, putting a great pressure on the country's strained transportation facilities, as the holiday is the most important occasion for family Reunion.

He also called on the transportation departments to contribute to building socialist new countryside by building more roads and highways in rural areas, old revolutionary bases, areas inhabited by ethnic minority people and border areas so as to help poor people lift out of poverty.