Bevy of railway passengers predicted for upcoming holiday

The Yangtze River Delta region is predicted to witness more than 22 million railway trips during the upcoming May Day holiday travel peak, and a daily record high since the coronavirus outbreak is forecast on May 1, China Railway Shanghai Group said today. 

The May Day holiday railway travel peak will run from April 29 to May 6.

The long holiday and well-under-control pandemic will trigger a boom of cross-province long trips during the travel peak, the group said. 

The majority of passengers will still be tourists and people returning home to visit relatives, but the distances will be longer and the departure and return times more flexible than during the Qingming Festival holiday, according to the group. 

The major destinations during the holiday travel peak will be popular tourist sites and routes including Beijing-Shanghai, Shanghai-Nanjing, Shanghai-Hangzhou, Hangzhou-Shenzhen, Hangzhou-Huangshan, Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong and Hefei-Fuzhou. 

April 30, May 1 and 5 are projected to be the three busiest days.

More than 140 additional trains will operate during the travel peak to cope with surging demand, involving both short and long distances that include routes between Shanghai and Nanchang, Xi'an, Wuhan, Luoyang and Changsha. 

Trains to popular tourist destinations in the region such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Lishui, Huangshan, Xuancheng, Xuzhou, Hangzhou, Yancheng and Ningbo will also be included. 

Ecological tours and "red" tourism are expected to be the most popular packages for railway passengers. 

More than 1,300 trains, including over 1,000 high-speed trains, will run daily in the region during the travel peak.