People are happier and friendlier during the holiday season, said Wang Liang, a 33-year-old staff worker on a platform at the Beijing West Railway Station.

"They are all smiling and happy to be going home, and seeing them happy makes me happier," said Wang, who is working on the platform for the fifth Spring Festival in a row. "Even when I'm not at home, I can still feel the festival at work. This is nice."

Wang's job is to ring a bell before a train approaches the platform and make sure everyone gets on and off safely.

One frequent problem is people getting off a train to smoke a cigarette or make a phone call, only to return when the train has left the station.

In these cases, Wang calls his colleague aboard the train to take care of the passenger's belongings, and sometimes their families, and arranges for the passenger to catch another train.

"I met someone who was left behind and his wife and child were still on the train. It was certainly an unhappy incident before the festival when families should stay together," he said. "We quickly arranged for him to catch the next train. After all, our work is sending people to where they are going."

Most of Wang's working hours are spent waiting on open platforms. As the extreme cold hit China two weeks ago, the temperature dropped to 20 C below zero. Under his uniform, Wang wears down jackets and trousers, the same gear a climber would wear to scale Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West.

"But still, if I stay outside too long, my toes become numb from the cold," he said.

Sometimes, watching snow or rain fall on the empty platform gives Wang a feeling of loneliness.

"There is no moment when I want to see a train arrive sooner, other than those times," he said. "When the train arrives, and passengers start to get on and off, they talk, laugh or cry. The platform will have a short moment of life."