7 million travel by rail on Spring Festival’s first day of “Chunyun”

Chinese New Year

7 million travel by rail on Spring Festival's first day of "Chunyun"

China’s railways transported seven million passengers on Sunday, the first day of the country’s annual Spring Festival travel rush, also known as “Chunyun”.

The number increased by one million over last year. The railway authorities added 342 temporary passengers trains on Sunday to ease the pressure on the first day of Chunyun.

“During this year’s 40-day Chunyun, the Shanghai Railway Bureau is expected to transport 57.11 million passengers, up by 8.5 percent year to year and accounting for nearly one fifth of the total railway passenger transportation. On the first day of Chunyun, the Shanghai Railway Bureau is expected to transport 1.5 million passengers, up by nearly 400,000 year on year,” said Chen Wanjun, spokesman of the Shanghai Railway Bureau.

The number of train travelers will grow gradually and reach a peak level seven days before the New Year’s Eve of the Lunar Calendar. Throughout this year’s Spring Festival travel season, there will be in total over 332 million trips expected during this 40-day period.

Meanwhile, China’s road system is expected to transport 57.89 million passengers on the first day of Chunyun, up by 1.1 percent year on year.