Dragon Boat Festival travel peaks listed

A total of 47 million trips — 7.8 percent more than last year — are expected during the railway rush that starts on Friday for this year’s Dragon Boat Festival holiday, China Railway Corp, the national rail operator, announced on Wednesday.

The Dragon Boat Festival falls on Monday this year, making a three-day public holiday that starts on Saturday.

According to CRC, an average of 11.75 million trips will be made daily during the four-day travel rush starting on Friday. The peak will fall on Saturday, which will see 13.3 million trips nationwide, 1.02 million more than last year’s peak.

Based on ticket sales, CRC expects stations in Beijing, Harbin, Dalian and Xi’an to be among the most crowded.

The railway authority plans to add 72 pairs of highspeed trains and 24 pairs of regular trains, and additional coaches will be attached to trains entering Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong province.

According to a report by domestic navigation company Amap and the China Tour- ism Association, the hottest tourist spots will be in Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou. West Lake in Hangzhou tops the ranking, followed by Beijing Olympic Park and Guangzhou’s Baiyun Mountain. The report also said the most popular theme park will be Disneyland in Shanghai.

Amap predicted that the outbound traffic peak would be from 9 am to 12 pm on Saturday and the return peak would be from 4 pm to 9 pm on Monday.

It added that national highways will not likely have heavy congestion in general, but roads in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and in the Pearl River Delta would be more likely to see traffic jams. The most congested highway is expected to be the one from Beijing to Harbin.