Chinese Railways: From January to November, the national railway transported 4.28 billion passengers, reaching a historical high for the same period.

The official WeChat account of China Railway announced that from January to November this year, the national railway carried 4.28 billion passengers, an increase of 6.6% year-on-year, reaching a historical high for the same period. As winter approaches, China Railway Group actively adapts to the seasonal travel needs of passengers, innovates passenger transport products and services, meticulously creates distinctive winter tourism trains, launches new tourism ticketing products, snow sports convenience services, and introduces new products and services. By creating new demands with new supplies, it has created more consumption scenarios, activated tourism resources along the route, and injected new vitality into the ice and snow economy and tourism development. Firstly, the passenger transport capacity is accurately matched with market demand. By making good use of newly added routes and equipment resources this year, China Railway increased passenger transport capacity supply, dynamically optimized and adjusted train scheduling plans based on ticket sales big data from railway's 12306 website, accurately meeting passengers' travel needs. From January to November, the national railway daily arranged to operate 11,258 passenger trains on average, an increase of 7.1% year-on-year. Railway's 12306 customer service center added group ticket telephone reservation services, and the single purchase limit on the railway's 12306 customer app (including website) was raised to 19 tickets, and the number of "passengers" that can be added to a single railway's 12306 account was increased from 15 to 30, effectively meeting the group ticket purchasing and travel needs of group travelers. Precisely connecting with various tourist hotspots, closely following event arrangements such as tournaments, exhibitions, and performances, customizing "fan trains", "football fan trains", "study trains", etc., activating the "theme train +" economy, and promoting the development of service consumption. Strengthening cross-border transportation organization, successfully operating international trains to countries such as Vietnam, Russia, and Mongolia, as well as sending cross-border passengers through Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway, and China-Laos Railway respectively, promoting cross-border tourism and providing effective support for personnel exchange and trade. Maintaining the scale of ordinary speed passenger trains, and operating public welfare "slow trains" and rural revitalization trains, providing convenience for people in remote and poverty-stricken areas. Secondly, new ticketing products help facilitate "spontaneous travel." Actively promoting new ticketing products such as ticketing by the number of rides, regular tickets, and tourism ticketing, currently, the number of rides and regular tickets cover 73 high-speed rail lines, making passenger travel more flexible, convenient, and affordable. Beginning November 27th, a new version of tourism ticket products "one-time purchase, segmented travel, valid for 15 days" will be launched successively at 212 stations nationwide, allowing passengers to freely choose 2 to 10 segments within the specified departure and arrival ranges, supporting both "advance seat reservation" and "direct boarding with ID card" for entry, making travel by train more convenient and popular. Harbin and Shenyang Railway Bureau jointly launched the "Northeastern Romance Ice and Snow Warm World" tourism ticket, connecting popular ice and snow tourism cities such as Changchun, Shenyang, Harbin, Yabuli, Hengdaohezi, and Mudanjiang. Zhengzhou Railway Bureau introduced multiple tourism ticket products such as "Zhengbianluo The Tang and Song Splendor Journey", "The Ancient Capital of Huaxia Cultural Heritage Journey", and "Wuxin Zheng Cultural Trip", covering cultural cities such as Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and Kaifeng. Jinan Railway Bureau introduced the "Qiru of High-Speed Rail" tourism ticket, covering popular cultural and tourist cities in Shandong Province such as Qingdao, Qufu, and Taian. Shanghai Railway Bureau introduced three tourism ticket products, "Changyou Hengzhou-Hangzhou", "Mingshan Shengshui You", and "Shuixiang Hua Juan You", connecting popular tourist cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Jiaxing. Nanchang Railway Bureau introduced two tourism ticket products, "Searching for Fujian Memories The Encounter of Maritime Silk Road, Tea Fragrance, and Danxia" and "Ganmin Hong Rhythm Visiting Famous Cities", allowing passengers to freely arrange itineraries between Nanchang, Pingxiang, Ji'an, Ganzhou, Longyan, Fuzhou, and Xiamen stations to explore local delicacies and beautiful scenery by train. Guangzhou Railway Bureau introduced two tourism ticket products, "Hainan Island Tour" and "Charming Xiangxi Free Tour", allowing passengers to enjoy the unique landscapes of Hainan Island and the ethnic culture of Xiangxi. Chengdu Railway Bureau launched three tourism ticket products centered on Chengdu, Chongqing, and Guiyang, including "Changyou Tianfu", "Leyou Shancheng", and "Mingyou Qiancheng", covering 10 stations in Sichuan, 10 stations in Chongqing, and 9 stations in Guizhou respectively. Kunming Railway Bureau launched the "There Is a Kind of Life Called Yunnan Life Journey of Colorful Yunnan" tourism ticket, allowing passengers to travel freely in the land of color clouds by train. Passengers who want to purchase tourism ticket products can enter the "Number of Rides Regular Tickets" section on the railway's 12306 customer app home page and select "Tourism" for purchase. Lastly, various measures are being taken to empower the ice and snow economy. With the arrival of the snow season, railway departments are implementing a series of convenient, beneficial, and people-oriented services to help passengers enjoy ice and snow tourism and sports, promoting the continuous growth of the ice and snow economy. Beijing Railway Bureau has launched the "Snow Sports Convenience" service on a trial basis at the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway. Passengers who successfully reserve online can bring snow sports equipment on board and store it in the designated area, allowing them to travel with their equipment, making it more convenient to "take the high-speed train to go skiing." At the same time, ten additional peak-hour trains in the Chongli direction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou High-Speed Railway are added every weekend, and the "Starry Yan Zhao" tourist trains add stations such as Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua, connecting high-quality winter tourism resources to meet the weekend travel demands in the snow season. Harbin Railway Bureau actively adapts to the winter tourism market demand by optimizing and upgrading the brand tourism trains such as the "Enjoying Heilongjiang Silver Tour" and "Daxing'anling, Yichun, etc.," providing winter travel experiences with unique features such as special tour and non-heritage cultural interactions. Shenyang Railway Bureau has increased several passenger trains from Changchun to Beijing, Songyuan, Changbai Mountain Tourism, etc., and implemented double trains for G928 from Jilin to Beijing Chaoyang and C503 from Changchun to Ulanhot to cater to the needs of travelers. Stations such as Yanji West and Hunchun are equipped with ginger tea, warm stickers, cold injury ointments, and other cold prevention supplies to help passengers dispel the cold. A "Warm Cottage" is set up at Changbai Mountain Tourism station for passengers to change clothes in a comfortable environment. Hohhot Railway Bureau optimizes the boarding and alighting procedures for ice and snow study groups at stations including Wulanchabu, Jining South, and Xinghe North, designates green channels, arranges waiting areas, opens special security check channels for snow equipment, and creates a convenient and warm travel environment. Urumqi Railway Bureau operates the "Winter Love Kalahe" tourist special train, allowing passengers to "travel during the day and night", making it convenient to visit the ice and snow scenery of "China's Snow Capital" Altay, as well as Kanasi, and Hemu, providing a storage area for snow sports equipment on the train for ski enthusiasts. The continuous increase in railway passenger traffic reflects the remarkable achievements of the market-oriented reform of railway passenger transportation, as well as the prosperity and vitality of a dynamic China. In the next step, China Railway Group will closely monitor passenger flow operations, dynamically adjust train scheduling plans according to the development of local tourism economies and passenger travel needs, continuously optimize passenger transport supply and station services, and provide strong support for expanding domestic demand in all aspects and promoting the development of service consumption. This article was selected and translated from the official WeChat account of "China Railway" by GMTEight editor: Jiang Yuanhua.