Chinese Railway: Railway transportation during the Qingming holiday has started. It is estimated that 90.5 million passengers will be transported.

According to the news from China Railway on April 3, the 5-day railway Qingming holiday transportation officially started today. From April 3 to April 7, the national railway is expected to transport 90.5 million passengers, averaging 18.1 million passengers per day. April 4 is expected to be the day with the highest passenger flow, sending an estimated 21.2 million passengers. During this Qingming period, the demand for visiting relatives, tomb sweeping, outings, and tourism is strong. The characteristics of passenger flow include high demand at the beginning and end, a large proportion of medium-short distance travel, and significant growth in tourist flow. Looking at the ticket pre-sale situation on the railway 12306 ticketing platform, popular departure cities include Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou; while popular destination cities include Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, and Xi'an. The passenger flow is relatively concentrated on popular routes such as Xi'an to Chengdu, Nanning to Guangzhou, Beijing to Nanjing, Beijing to Shanghai, Changsha to Wuhan, and Beijing to Zhengzhou. The railway department has carefully organized the Qingming holiday transportation, tapping into transportation potential, implementing measures for the convenience and benefit of the people, and ensuring the safe and orderly travel of passengers, providing transportation support for the smooth operation of the holiday economy. Increasing passenger transportation capacity to meet passenger travel demands. Coordinating the use of high-speed and conventional rail resources, the national railway has implemented a peak operation plan on major high-speed rail corridors such as Beijing-Guangzhou, Beijing-Shanghai, and Beijing-Harbin by arranging night high-speed rail services. The plan includes operating more than 13,000 passenger trains daily. By analyzing the big data on railway 12306, closely monitoring the holiday passenger flow operation, adding temporary passenger trains, coupling multiple EMU trains, and adding carriages to conventional passenger trains in popular directions and time periods, the railway department is promptly increasing capacity to meet passenger travel demand. Major passenger transport stations are extending their operation hours to the maximum extent to meet the diverse travel needs of passengers. Public service "slow trains" and "rural revitalization" trains are operated for the convenience of people traveling during the holidays. To cope with sudden passenger flows, a certain number of standby EMU trains, conventional passenger trains, and crew members are stationed at major railway hubs, ready to operate at any time. Promoting tourism with the operation of tourist and themed trains. To cater to the needs of Qingming vacationers for tourism, outings, flower viewing, tomb sweeping, etc., unique tourism and themed trains with distinctive features are meticulously designed to operate between popular tourist cities. These trains are linked with scenic spots and hotels to provide customized services, create new consumption scenarios, promote new travel experiences, and inject new vitality into holiday tourism and the silver economy. Implementing measures for the convenience and benefit of passengers to enhance the travel experience. Railway 12306 ticketing platform provides functions such as waiting list ticket purchase and online seat selection (berth), continues to offer telephone booking services for the elderly, dynamically optimizes ticketing strategies to meet the needs of long-distance and short-distance passengers, and allocates tickets in a timely manner to stations with high passenger flows to meet the diverse travel needs of passengers. Implementing measures such as traveling light, high-speed pet transportation, increasing information services, providing more convenience to passengers, and enhancing the overall travel experience. Enhancing services for key passengers such as the elderly, children, patients, pregnant women, etc., improving reservation and response efficiency, opening green love channels, and providing guidance services throughout the journey. Organizing passenger boarding and alighting meticulously, dynamically increasing security check and validation channels, coordinating with local transportation departments to increase bus and subway services, extending operating hours, and facilitating the "last mile" of passenger travel. Optimizing station catering services, enriching supply categories, improving taste and quality, and striving to provide passengers with a satisfying dining experience. Strengthening civilized travel promotion and guidance, reinforcing station security checks, collaborating with railway public security agencies to crack down on illegal and criminal activities, and creating a safe, orderly, and warm travel environment. The railway department reminds that the railway 12306 (including the website, app, etc.) is the only official online ticketing platform for Chinese railways, committed to providing fair, safe, and convenient ticketing and travel services for passengers. It has never cooperated with any third-party platforms, so passengers are advised to purchase tickets through official railway channels. During the holidays, some stations experience high passenger flows during peak hours, so passengers should pay attention to weather changes and travel service information, allocate sufficient time for boarding and riding, strictly carry personal belongings as required, board trains in an orderly manner according to the ticket information, and collectively maintain a good travel environment. This article is adapted from the "China Railway" WeChat official account, GMTEight Editor: Feng Qiuyi.