China braces for post-holiday travel peak

BEIJING - Railway stations, highways and airports across China are bracing for a fresh travel peak as a growing number of travelers hit the road and return to work after a week-long Spring Festival holiday which will end on Friday.

On Thursday, Beijing West Railway Station and Beijing South Railway Station, two major railway terminals in the Chinese capital, were estimated to receive 156,000 passenger arrivals and 142,000 passenger arrivals, respectively, according to Beijing Major Railway Station Areas Administration.

Beijing West Railway Station is expected to see the travel peak on Saturday with more than 180,000 passenger arrivals.

To ensure smooth traffic flow around the railway stations, Beijing will extend the operating time of subways and put more buses and taxis on roads, among others.

"We call on taxi operators and online car-hailing platforms to send more cars around the railway stations during the recent travel rush, especially at night," said Mao Jun, deputy director of Beijing Major Railway Station Areas Administration.

In Central China's Hubei province, State Grid Hubei Electric Power Co Ltd has done a comprehensive "physical check" for 824 charging piles in operation in the province's expressway service areas. It has also installed 18 mobile charging facilities in busy service zones.

Hubei's transport authorities said it would release timely information on road conditions and weather through radios, social media platforms, and navigation software to help drivers and passengers choose trip routes.

To meet the employment demand of enterprises, many Chinese provinces are using charter services to transport workers back to work.

A charter flight carrying 186 migrant workers arrived at Fuzhou, the capital of East China's Fujian province, on Thursday afternoon.

Wang Mingrui, director of Fuzhou Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, said these workers come from various places in Southwest China's Yunnan province and will work for 28 key enterprises in Fuzhou.

Fuzhou will arrange nine charter flights and one charter train before Feb 8 to help workers from provinces, including Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, return to the city.

More "point-to-point" direct flights and trains will be opened to ensure smooth and safe post-holiday travel flow. After the Spring Festival holiday, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will open 10 special trains for locals who will return to work in China's economic powerhouse Guangdong province.

Spring Festival usually sees hundreds of millions of Chinese head to their hometowns to unite with families. The annual travel rush, or "Chunyun", often puts the country's transportation system to the test.

Around 2.1 billion passenger trips are expected to be made during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, between Jan 7 and Feb 15, according to the Ministry of Transport.