Guangzhou (JLC), February 4, 2024 – The Spring Festival travel rush (Chunyun) picked up steam during February 1-3, despite adverse weather conditions in some provinces, according to JLC’s calculations based on data from the Ministry of Transport.
A total of approximately 1.75 billion passenger trips were completed between January 26 and February 3 by road, railway, air and waterway across the country, JLC’s calculations showed.
It represented a surge of 13.99% from the corresponding period in 2023, and an increase of 3.41% from the pre-pandemic levels (the corresponding period in 2019), the calculations showed.
This year’s travel rush will be the busiest one that China has ever seen, the Ministry of Transport predicted, with 9 billion passenger trips expected in the 40-day Chunyun, which began on January 26.
Daily trips breach 200 million during Feb.2-3
Overall traffic has been gaining momentum since the beginning of this month, the data showed, even though some trains were suspended amid heavy snows in some provinces.
About 203 million passenger trips were taken on February 3, the highest level in this year’s Chunyun, data from the Ministry of Transport indicated.
Road and rail passengers were steadily on the rise over the first 3 days of February, while air passengers remained largely table, the data showed.
However, the ongoing travel rush could be partly disrupted by severe weather conditions in the coming days.
Trains delayed or suspended
Some provinces or cities have partly suspended their trains or experienced train delays due to heavy snows or freezing rains since February 3.
For instance, the Wuhan Railway Bureau planned to suspend 141 trains on February 4 due to icy and snowy conditions, according to official information released on Sunday. The Shanghai Railway Bureau suspended 39 trains during February 3-4 due to similar reasons.
The National Meteorological Center (NMC) continued to issue blizzard orange warning on February 3. There will be heavy snows in some parts of southern Henan, most of Hubei, central and northern Anhui, central Jiangsu, northern Hunan, eastern Chongqing, and northern Guizhou on February 3-4, the NMC said.
The rain-and-snow freezing weather impacting central and eastern China is reported to be the strongest in about 15 years, and is likely to place extra strain on travel for millions over the next few days, state-run the People’s Daily warned.
