Spring Festival Travel: 2.99 billion passenger-trips expected during Spring Festival travel rush

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02:21

We're still about two weeks away from China's Spring Festival holiday. But the travel rush ahead of it is just around the corner. Starting next week, nearly 3-billion trips will be made on China's railways, planes, and more. Sun Tianyuan has the preview.

It's the largest travel rush season on the planet. Called "Chunyun" in Chinese, it's the 40-day period starting January 21st in which nearly 3 BILLION passenger-trips will be made. And year after year China's transportation network gets hit with its biggest annual surge ahead of the Spring Festival holiday.

LIAN WEILIANG, VICE CHAIRMAN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND REFORM COMMISSION "The load before the Spring Festival is expected to be heavier than after. But the overall capacity should better meet the demand of passengers this year."

In the last four decades, many Chinese have left their hometowns to seek work or education elsewhere. But it's both a tradition and a ritual to reunite with family during the Spring Festival. Hundreds of millions of Chinese will make trips before and after the holiday, putting tremendous pressure on China's transportation network.

Of the 2.99 billion expected trips, China's railway network will handle an anticipated 413 million of them, an 8 percent jump over last year. Air travel will see about 73 million, a 12 percent hike. The nation's waterways will see about 43 million. And the vast majority remaining 2.46 billion will hit the road. Officials promise more comfortable travels this year.

LI WENXIN, VICE GENERAL MANAGER CHINA RAILWAY CORPORATION "We are adding extra trains to defray overcrowdedness. Many ticketing services have moved online to save passengers' time at the station. We have also enlarged the waiting rooms at many stations."

DONG ZHIYI, DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR CIVIL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OF CHINA "Electronic boarding pass and self-service check-in are now available at more than 200 airports. Onboard wifi is now available on more than 300 planes."

This year's travel rush will last for 40 days from January 21st to March 1st. The country is adding extra trains and flights to handle the load. CGTN, Beijing.