China Railway Launches 8-Day May Day Holiday Transport with Record Passenger Expectations
China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. announced that the railway transport for the May Day holiday kicked off on April 29, spanning 8 days until May 6. During this period, China’s railways are expected to carry 158 million passengers, with an average of approximately 12,000 passenger trains scheduled to operate daily. May 1 is anticipated to be the peak travel day, with 24 million passengers projected to travel on that day alone.
A responsible person from the Passenger Transport Center of China State Railway Group stated that travel demand for tourism, family visits and leisure activities is robust during this year’s May Day holiday, and railway passenger flow will remain at a high level. It is expected that long-distance passenger flow will dominate the start and end of the holiday, while short-distance travel will be the main focus in the middle period. China News Service reported that as of 8:00 on April 29, the railway 12306 platform had sold a total of 83.02 million tickets for the May Day holiday.
To cope with the surging passenger flow, railway authorities have made full use of big data from the 12306 platform to track passenger flow in real time. During peak hours, they have adopted measures such as adding extra passenger trains, coupling EMU trains and attaching additional carriages to conventional passenger trains to accurately allocate transport capacity in popular areas, routes and time periods.
Specifically, overnight high-speed trains operating across railway bureau groups have been arranged on major high-speed lines including the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Harbin lines from late night to early morning on April 29, April 30, May 1, May 4 and May 5, with an average of about 700 extra trains running each day. People’s Daily Online noted that overnight EMU sleeper trains have also been added from April 28 to 30 and May 5 to 7, covering routes from Beijing to Shenzhen, Nanning and Kunming, from Shanghai to Guangzhou and Huizhou, and from Beijing and Shanghai to Sichuan and Guizhou.
Meanwhile, railway departments have deepened the integrated development of railways with tourism, culture, commerce and other fields, further enriching tourist train products and building the "Railway +" service brand. These efforts aim to connect scenic spots, local delicacies and cultural attractions along the routes, promoting the concept of "trains heading for scenic areas".
The "Shangrao Xuxian Train" made its maiden trip on May 1, while other high-quality tourist trains such as the "New Oriental Express", "Starlight Lancang-Mekong", "Panda Special Train · Shifang" and "Jinlv Time" continue to operate, providing passengers with a high-quality travel experience. Li Wei, a senior manager of China Railway Tourism Co., Ltd., said these tourist trains have become a popular choice for holidaymakers, as they combine comfortable travel with cultural experiences.
To further enhance passengers’ travel experience, railway departments have continuously optimized entry and transfer routes, strengthened guidance for convenient in-station transfers during peak hours and at key locations. At present, 120 stations across the country have realized convenient in-station transfers for connecting ticket passengers, and 49 stations have implemented security check exemptions for railway passengers transferring to the subway.
Additional services have also been upgraded: the number of online food ordering stations nationwide has reached 93, the "Pet Travel" service has been expanded to 121 stations, the "Light Travel" service covers 111 stations, and the "Quiet Carriage" service has been extended to more than 8,000 EMU trains. Xinhua News Agency commented that these user-friendly measures fully reflect the people-oriented service concept of China’s railway sector.
