Chinese make over 400 million trips by rail during Spring Festival By Li Xinyi, People’s Daily

Photo taken on March 1,2019 shows crew of train K442 posing for a selfie after the train arrives at the destination. (Photo by Bao Gansheng from People’s Daily Online)

China’s 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which came to an end on March 1, , with the passengers traveling by rail exceeding 400 million for the first time, according to official data. From Jan.21 to March 1, the passengers traveling by rail increased by 6.7 percent year on year to 410 million, of which those choosing high-speed trains rose 16.2 percent from a year ago to 240 million, or about 60 percent of the total rail travelers. The share also represents a 5-percentage-point rise from the same period a year ago.

A total of 23 days saw a daily railway traffic of more than 10 million passengers. On Feb.23, about 13.17 million trips were made by rail, setting a daily record. In the same period, a record high of 72.88 million trips were made by air, meaning an increase of 11.4 percent from a year earlier. The average flight punctuality rate was 80.42 percent, indicating safe, smooth, and orderly air transportation and satisfying the needs of passengers for travel.

In addition, 380 pairs of Fuxing bullet trains ran on 38 rail lines at higher traffic density and between a larger network covering 23 provincial capitals, municipalities and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. More travelers chose to book a ticket online. To improve the ticket purchasing experience of passengers, new functions were added to the official train ticket booking website, www.12306.cn, including scanner login, face-scanning verification, and the e-ticket sales system. The website registered a daily sale of more than 11 million tickets in 19 days. On Jan. 4, 2019, 12.82 million tickets were sold via the platform, hitting a record high.

In the nationwide, 3,662 self-service ticket checking machines have been deployed by 578 railway stations to allow swift passage, resulting in great efficiency improvement. Smart and informationized services, including Wi-Fi system on the train, intelligent guidance in the station, online meal ordering platforms, and shared cars, were also introduced to make the trips easier.