China Sells Over 140 Million Train Tickets During Spring Festival Travel Rush

China’s railway ticketing platform 12306 had sold around 140 million train tickets for the ongoing Spring Festival travel rush as of 8 am on Saturday, according to the national railway operator.

The country’s railway network recorded 12.845 million passenger trips on Friday, marking the fifth straight day with daily ridership exceeding 10 million, China State Railway Group Co Ltd said.

For Saturday, railways nationwide are expected to carry about 13.8 million passenger trips, with 1,249 additional passenger trains scheduled to meet peak travel demand.

Railway authorities across China are closely monitoring passenger flows during the holiday rush, using dynamic big data analysis to boost capacity on high-demand routes and improve services to ensure smooth travel.

The 40-day Spring Festival travel season is projected to see a record 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips nationwide. Of these, an estimated 540 million journeys are expected to be made by rail.