As many as 200,000 passengers were delayed at rail stations in the capital Beijing and the central province of Henan on Thursday, with as many as 90,000 stranded overnight, according to the reports and railway officials.

Beijing's West Railway Station was put on "red alert" as additional security forces were called in for crowd control, while all the waiting areas were opened up to accommodate frustrated passengers, the Beijing News said.

Nearly 30,000 passengers were stranded at the station overnight as 28 trains heading south were delayed, while 100,000 passengers were held up throughout the day, the paper and Xinhua news agency reported.

China Central Television reported that trains would run late and the logjam at the Beijing station would continue through Friday, although order at the station had "returned to normal".

Another 60,000 passengers had been stranded overnight in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, an official with the city's railway administration surnamed Xiao told AFP.

Henan's Dahe Daily newspaper described the bottleneck at Zhengzhou station as the worst-ever, with 100,000 travellers delayed there as well as at the city's other transport hubs, such as bus stations and the airport.

Xiao said trains departing from the main station in Zhengzhou would continue to run late on Friday but were expected to return to normal later in the day.

Heavy snowfalls that shut down rail lines in Henan have been blamed for the transport chaos.

China is in the grip of a mid-winter cold spell, which is coinciding with the Lunar New Year travel season that stretches from January 14 to February 22.

Over two billion trips are expected to be taken during the period, which is traditionally a time for family reunions for the nation's 1.3 billion people.

Up to 90 percent of the passengers will choose to travel by bus, train or car, while 15 million people will travel by air, according to government estimates.

The Lunar New Year, which this year ushers in the Year of the Dog in the Chinese zodiac, falls on January 29.

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