Train tickets go on sale for National Day, Mid-Autumn holidays

Train tickets for China's upcoming National Day and Mid-Autumn festival holiday travel period went on sale on Wednesday, with tickets for Sept 23 now available, according to China State Railway Group, the national railway operator.

The railway holiday travel period will run for 16 days from Sept 23 to Oct 8, with passenger traffic expected to peak on Oct 1.

The holiday period is traditionally one of the busiest times of the year for China's railway network. Last year's holiday travel also peaked on Oct 1, when the network handled 23.13 million passenger trips, setting a single-day record.

This year, travel demand is expected to remain high as trips for tourism, family visits and leisure overlap, with passenger flows likely to be particularly concentrated on popular routes and during peak periods, the railway operator said.

To meet demand, the national railway network will operate a peak timetable, with an average of about 13,000 passenger trains scheduled each day.

Additional capacity will be provided through measures including night high-speed trains, extra high-speed sleeper services, coupled trainsets and additional carriages on conventional trains.

Night high-speed trains will operate on major routes, including the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Harbin high-speed railways, on selected peak dates between Sept 25 and Oct 8.

Additional high-speed sleeper trains will also run on selected dates on routes linking Beijing with Shenzhen, Chengdu, Kunming and Hong Kong, among other destinations, and Shanghai with cities including Guangzhou and Zhuhai.

The railway operator will also run themed tourism services, including the Panda Express, as well as customized trains for concertgoers and soccer fans. Passenger services, including trains on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and international services linking China with neighboring countries, will continue during the holiday period.

China State Railway Group said it will use booking data from the 12306 ticketing platform to monitor demand and dynamically adjust train capacity and ticket allocations.

Passengers who cannot immediately secure tickets for popular services are advised to use the platform's waiting-list function. The railway operator said additional tickets made available after capacity increases will be allocated first to passengers who have submitted waiting-list orders.