Technology eases travelers’ Spring Rush journeys

During this year’s Spring Rush (or chunyun), which started on Jan 21 and will end on March 1, Chinese people are expected to make about 2.99 billion trips. This is equivalent to relocating the entire population of Africa, Europe, the Americas and Oceania in 40 days.

That China successfully manages the largest mass migration in the world shows the Chinese economy remains vibrant and the country is moving toward overall prosperity. According to statistics from relevant departments, China’s total passenger transport capacity, including the railways, waterways and civil aviation, during the 2019 chunyun is expected to increase by more than 5 percent over last year’s. Which means China’s transportation authorities have made great efforts to optimize and improve passenger transfer services.

For passengers’ convenience, the authorities are widely applying smart and information technologies to promote closer cooperation among the railways, civil aviation and road networks, and strengthen the links among different transport modes, in order to provide the passengers with better “last-mile” services.

Hainan Island Circular High-Speed Railway has taken the lead in piloting e-ticket rail travel. The Hainan railway project is aimed at replacing paper tickets with e-tickets, and making identity cards or certificates the travel voucher, in order to establish a self-service entrance and exit, and self-service ticket change and refund mechanisms.