China’s railway passenger trips hit record single-day high

What the report says

China’s railway network carried 25.204 million passenger trips on Oct. 1, the first day of the country’s week-long National Day holiday, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., or China Railway. The figure set a new single-day record for the system, as holiday travel demand surged across the country, The Independent Uganda reported from a Xinhua dispatch.

China Railway said it also expected heavy traffic on Oct. 2, with 20.39 million trips and 1,462 extra trains planned to help meet demand. The report said major departure cities included Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, while popular destinations included Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shanghai and Changsha. Busy corridors included routes linking Xi’an and Chengdu, as well as Beijing with Shenyang, Zhengzhou and Qingdao.

Authorities across China have stepped up transport planning and added services to support travel during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday period, which runs from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8. The railway group expects about 284 million passenger trips during the break. The broader transport picture also showed large holiday movement nationwide, with the Ministry of Transport reporting 329.5 million cross-regional trips on Oct. 1.

The report also noted that some local railway groups coordinated with buses, tourist sites and promotions to ease transfers and encourage travel, reflecting how China’s holiday mobility has become a major logistical task for transport operators and local governments.