China's railways gear up for the Spring Festival travel rush

Railways across China are under pressure after the Spring Festival travel rush began on Thursday.

To help ensure people make it home for the holiday, the railway authority has added more trains and launched a special ticketing service for migrant workers.

The Spring Festival, which starts with the Chinese New Year on February 16 this year, is the country's grandest traditional festival.

Most people working away from their hometown will return for a family reunion, with the total volume of passengers nationwide expected to reach almost 3 billion during a 40-day long travel rush.

The number of railway passengers is expected to reach 390 million during the period, which is a year-on-year increase of nine percent.

A family leaves Fuyang Railway Station at the end of their journey in Anhui Province on February 1, 2018. [Photo: IC]

Zhang Caichun, the deputy director of the Dispatch Department of China Railway, said more trains have been put into service during this peak period.

"The scheduled railway traffic for this year's Spring Festival travel rush is record-breaking. On top of the nearly 39-hundred sets of regular daily trains, we have added an additional over 500 temporary services before and over 600 services after the Spring Festival, which is an average daily increase of more than 5 percent over last year. Passenger hubs in particular have seen a considerable increase of transport capacity."

The official railway ticketing system has seen sales increase from 10 million to 15 million tickets per day compared to last year.

Getting a ticket is not easy, especially for migrant workers who are eager to head home for the holiday but often struggle to access opportunities to buy tickets.

This year, the railway department has launched a special ticketing service for migrant workers from big labor export regions such as Sichuan, Guizhou, and Chongqing.

Li Wenxin is the vice general manager of China Railway. He says they have set aside a special reserve of tickets for migrant workers.

"These passengers can buy tickets from special ticket windows opened for migrant workers. This is the first time we have taken such a measure. So far over 14 million tickets have been sold through these windows."

Wu Wenxing is a passenger at Dazhou Raiway Station in Sichuan Province. He says the special ticketing service helped him to get a hard-to-get ticket.

"It's really convenient. I checked online and found that there were no tickets left. So I came to the special window to try my luck, and I got it."

A policeman helps carry luggage for a senior citizen and a child at Fuyang Railway Station in Anhui Province on February 1, 2018. [Photo: IC]

Meanwhile, railway maintenance workers have entered their busiest period of the year, working around the clock inspecting and repairing China's high-speed trains.

Railway police around the country are also hard at work during the Spring Festival travel rush. Railway police are sharing tips on travel safety with passengers, and are on alert to deal with possible emergencies.