China State Railway Launches May Day Holiday Transport, Expected to Serve 158 Million Passengers

China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China State Railway) announced that the railway transport for the May Day holiday kicked off on April 29, lasting 8 days until May 6. During the period, the national railway is expected to send 158 million passengers, with an average of about 12,000 passenger trains scheduled to operate daily. May 1 is expected to be the peak passenger flow day, with 24 million passengers to be served.

China News Service reports that a person in charge of the Passenger Transport Center of China State Railway stated that the May Day holiday this year has witnessed strong travel demand, including tourism, family visits and leisure, leading to high passenger flow on the railway. The passenger flow is expected to be dominated by long-distance trips at the beginning and end of the holiday, and short-distance trips in the middle. As of 8:00 on April 29, China Railway 12306 has sold a total of 83.02 million tickets for the May Day holiday.

From the pre-sale situation, the top 10 popular departure cities are Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and Nanjing. The top 10 popular destination cities are Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Nanjing, Changsha and Xi'an. Passenger flow is concentrated on popular routes such as Beijing-Zhengzhou, Beijing-Shenyang, Beijing-Jinan, Beijing-Taiyuan, Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Xi'an, Beijing-Nanjing, Guangzhou-Wuhan and Guangzhou-Nanning.

To meet the diverse travel needs of passengers, China State Railway has formulated a careful transport plan, increased passenger transport capacity and strengthened station and train services to ensure safe, orderly and comfortable travel for passengers. It has made overall use of line and equipment resources, given play to the advantages of the high-speed rail network, implemented a peak-hour train diagram, and planned to operate more than 12,000 passenger trains daily on average.

Leveraging big data from China Railway 12306 to track passenger flow in real time, the railway department has accurately deployed transport capacity in popular areas, routes and time periods during peak hours by adding passenger trains, reconnection of EMU trains and adding carriages to conventional passenger trains, arranging an average of 156 additional inter-bureau passenger trains daily. From late night to early morning on April 29, 30, May 1, 4 and 5, additional inter-bureau night high-speed rail trains are operated on major high-speed rail lines such as Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Harbin, with an average of about 700 additional trains per day.

People's Daily notes that China State Railway has also launched special tourist trains to boost the holiday economy, deepening the integrated development of railway with tourism, culture and commerce. The "Shangrao Immortal Seeking Train" made its maiden trip on May 1, while tourist trains such as "New Oriental Express", "Starlight Lancang-Mekong", "Panda Special Train Shifang" and "Tianjin Travel Time" continue to operate to create high-quality travel experiences.

In terms of convenient services, China Railway 12306's ticket waiting list and online seat selection functions are fully utilized, and free ticket refund services for wrong purchases are maintained. A total of 120 stations across the country have realized convenient transfer for connecting ticket passengers, and 49 stations have implemented no-security-check access for railway passengers transferring to subway. The railway department has also strengthened services for key passengers such as the elderly, children, the sick, the disabled and pregnant women, and expanded services like "Pet Travel", "Light Travel" and "Quiet Carriage".

To ensure safe and smooth transport, the railway department has strengthened safety risk control, coordinated with meteorological departments for weather forecasting, improved emergency plans, and increased security checks to crack down on illegal and criminal activities. The railway department reminds passengers that China Railway 12306 is the only official channel for railway ticketing, and passengers are advised to purchase tickets through official channels to avoid failures.