People line up in front of the ticket booths at Beijing West Railway Station. [Photo/thepaper.cn]
By 9 am on Jan 21, a total of 235 million train tickets had been sold for the Spring Festival travel rush, China’s largest annual population migration, according to the country’s train ticket booking platform, 12306.
Ticket sales for this year’s Spring Festival travel rush, which runs from Jan 14 to Feb 22, began on Dec 31.
China’s railways are expected to handle more than 510 million passenger trips during this period, averaging 12.75 million trips per day, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2024.
On Jan 20 alone, about 21.3 million tickets were sold in a single day.
On Jan 21, tickets became available for Feb 4, the final day of the eight-day Spring Festival holiday and busy travel day.
12306 said that railway authorities are continuously monitoring and analyzing data on pre-sale and standby ticket purchases. Capacity is being increased on popular routes and during peak travel times by adding temporary passenger trains and overnight high-speed trains.
There are currently still available tickets on some trains during non-peak hours.
12306 is advising passengers to purchase tickets through official railway channels. They caution against using certain apps that offer shortcuts to ticket purchases, as they are merely marketing gimmicks. These services may induce passengers to buy tickets through methods like purchasing short-distance tickets for long-distance travel or vice versa, or recommending unreasonable transfer options.
Passengers can take advantage of the services provided by the 12306 platform, including reminders and waiting lists. Passengers who sign up for the waiting list will be prioritized for tickets that are refunded or rescheduled or those from newly added trains.
Source: thepaper.cn
,https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250123/d1e0a34fd1d04cf890d8bfdeb7627a55.html