Railway traffic peaks as Spring Festival holiday ends

2019-02-10
Xinhua

Passengers queue up to board the train at Guiyangbei Railway Station in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, Feb 10, 2019. China witnessed a nationwide Spring Festival travel rush on Feb 10 when people started to return to work places from hometowns after family gatherings as the Spring Festival holiday came to an end. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING — Railway traffic peaked on Feb 10 with millions of Chinese returning to work as the week-long Spring Festival holiday ends.

Feb 10 is expected to see 12.52 million railway trips, up 3.3 percent, and the traffic peak since the Lunar New Year travel rush began about two weeks ago, according to the China Railway Corporation.

About 11.11 million railway trips were made on Feb 9, up 4 percent year-on-year.

Rain and snowy weather hit many regions in China during the weekend, partly shifting traffic of other means of transport to the railway.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese go back to their hometowns to celebrate the Lunar New Year, creating an annual travel rush around the festival that often puts the transport system to the test.

This year’s Spring Festival travel rush started from Jan 21 and will last till March 1, with railway trips expected to hit 413 million in total, up 8.3 percent.

Passengers pass through the check-in to board the train at Guiyangbei Railway Station in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, Feb 10, 2019.[Photo/Xinhua]

Passengers are seen at waiting room at Guiyangbei Railway Station in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, Feb 10, 2019.[Photo/Xinhua]

Passengers are seen on platform waiting for a train at Zhengzhoudong Railway Station in Zhengzhou, Central China’s Henan province, Feb 10, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]

Passengers are seen at waiting room at Guiyangbei Railway Station in Guiyang, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, Feb 10, 2019.[Photo/Xinhua]