Rise in passenger trips during Spring Festival

Although China’s railway sector saw a bump in passenger trips during the Spring Festival travel rush, figures were still low compared to the year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

China State Railway Group, the national railway operator, said 253 million trips were made during the 40-day period, up 16 percent compared with last year. In the same period, 420 million metric tons of cargo were handled, a year-on-year increase of 1.4 percent.

But during the record-setting rush in 2019, the last one before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 410 million passenger trips were made via the railway network — nearly 40 percent higher than this year’s figure.

This year’s Spring Festival travel rush started on Jan 17 and ended on Feb 25.