May Day will see 144 million passenger trips - China railway network

China's railway network is expected to transport around 144 million passenger trips during the eight-day May Day holiday travel rush, which kicked off on Monday, according to China State Railway Group, the national railway operator.

It is expected to see an average of 18 million trips per day. Wednesday is estimated to be the peak day for passenger flow, with an estimated 21 million passenger trips expected to be transported.

According to the ticket-booking system (12306 platform), as of Monday morning, more than 73 million tickets had been sold during the holiday rush.

Popular destinations include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Xi'an and Nanjing. Popular routes include Beijing to Shanghai, Xi'an to Chengdu, Guangzhou to Nanning, Beijing to Hohhot, and Beijing to Taiyuan.

To cater for the surge in traffic, the railway department has added more train services, operating an average of over 12,000 passenger trains every day, an increase of more than 1,800 train services compared to regular days.

Measures such as adding more high-speed sleeper trains, coupling multiple trains, and attaching additional carriages to conventional passenger trains have been taken to promptly augment capacity in popular regions and routes, according to the company.

luowangshu@chinadaily.com.cn