China Railway Group responds to The Paper: Overall passenger flow during Spring Festival transportation will increase steadily, and the company will increase transport capacity in key areas and peak hours.
January 8th, a press conference was held by the State Council Information Office to introduce the situation and work arrangements for the Spring Festival transportation in 2025. When answering questions from Bloomberg, Zhu Wenzhong, the head of the passenger transport department of the State Railway Group, stated that the Spring Festival transportation in this year will start 12 days earlier than that in 2024, and the railway passenger flow will exhibit some new characteristics and patterns.
Firstly, the overall passenger flow will increase steadily. The passenger market for Spring Festival transportation in 2025 will continue the stable development trend of 2024. The eight-day long holiday during Spring Festival will further stimulate travel demand for family reunions and tourism, driving a comprehensive increase in passenger flow during the holiday. Secondly, the passenger flow characteristics will still exhibit relatively obvious one-way characteristics, but the reverse passenger flow will further increase. Thirdly, during some periods and directions of the Spring Festival passenger flow peak, such as the direction from Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Changsha, Wuhan, Chengdu-Chongqing before the festival, there will still be contradictions between transportation volume and transportation capacity.
Zhu Wenzhong expressed that they will scientifically arrange the transportation capacity of Spring Festival transportation according to the principles of “making full use of resources, actively tapping potential, scientific arrangement, and being prepared for emergencies”, to meet the travel needs of passengers during Spring Festival to the maximum extent possible. In terms of transportation capacity arrangement, three main aspects are highlighted:
Firstly, make full use of new railway lines and equipment. During this year’s Spring Festival transportation, new high-speed rail channels will be added in some directions with concentrated passenger flow, such as newly opened high-speed rail lines such as Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou and Ji-Da-Yuan, which will play an important supporting role in Beijing, Shanghai and other key areas during Spring Festival transportation; before Spring Festival, 185 newly built high-speed trains with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour were put into use across the country, providing mobile equipment support and guarantee for Spring Festival transportation.
Secondly, increase transportation capacity in key areas and peak periods. Before the festival, in areas with concentrated passenger flow such as Beijing, Shanghai-Ningbo-Hangzhou, Guangzhou-Shenzhen, 1724 long-distance passenger trains will be arranged to run daily, an increase of 64 pairs compared with last year; during peak travel periods, 329 pairs of nighttime long-distance high-speed trains will be arranged, an increase of 38 pairs. After the festival, in areas with concentrated passenger flow such as Chengdu-Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang, and Hunan, 871 long-distance passenger trains will be arranged to run daily, an increase of 46 pairs; during peak travel periods, 170 pairs of nighttime long-distance high-speed trains will be arranged, an increase of 31 pairs.
Thirdly, improve the emergency response mechanism for sudden passenger flow. Based on the big data of railway 12306 ticket reservations and ticket waiting lists, analyze the travel patterns of passengers, dynamically assess passenger flow trends, arrange transportation capacity in a tiered manner to strive to achieve precise matching between transportation capacity and demand. In response to sudden passenger flow, a certain number of passenger trains and attendants will be reserved at major railway hubs to ensure that they can go online at any time to ensure the travel needs of passengers.
