2016年CRI Spring Festival Travel Rush Concludes Today

 

Over 300 million railway trips have been made during this year's spring festival travel rush - though the latest numbers only count until the end of February.

The highest single-day travel happened on February 14th - Valentine's Day - with over 10 million trips.

Many train stations have broken their previous records for traffic volume.

Railway stations in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, and Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, recorded the largest seasonal¹ departure and arrival surges², both by over 25 percent compared to last year's festival travel rush.

Gou Xuehua with Nanchang railway Administration provides some further details.

"There have been 23 and a half million trips in our station during the spring festival period time, a jump of 15 percent compared with last year. Most of those trips were made by migrant workers, students and people visiting relatives. In addition, more and more people are choosing bullet trains over regular ones. The bullet trains we've provided accounted for over 60 percent of total traffic."

Another highlight in this year's Spring Festival travel rush is that nearly 60 percent of people booked tickets online using their cellphones.

The percentage of online, mobile bookings was over 80 percent in the Yangtze River delta³ area.

Not only can passengers buy train tickets via mobile apps, train stations have also provided information inquiry⁴ services using social media platforms such as Wechat and Sina Weibo.

The services were well received by passengers.

"Now I can get the information I need with some simple clicks on my phone, including the right waiting room and where to check in and such. That's very convenient, and has saved me from lots of unnecessary troubles."

As a part of creating intelligent train stations, the apps also provide services including details on train delays, waiting room check-ins, surrounding area traffic information, and special services to order food.

Zhengzhou railway station even developed a nationwide real time transportation monitoring app, applying big data technology which shows a map of China displaying the number of people on the road via different travel modes.

Passenger Wang Jiawen says she found the app to be very helpful.

"I think the big-data-map thing is really interesting. Through that, I can get the information about how many people are traveling on the road using what kind of means of transportation. I find that very useful."

It is a tradition for the Chinese people to travel for family reunions during the Lunar New Year festival, creating the world's largest annual human migration⁵. This year, the travel period started on January 24th and, as usual, it lasted for 40 days.

1 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

2 surges   

n.奔涌向前( surge的名词复数 )；（数量的）急剧上升；（感情等）洋溢；浪涛般汹涌奔腾v.（波涛等）汹涌( surge的第三人称单数 )；（人群等）蜂拥而出；使强烈地感到

参考例句：

• The Yellow River surges onward like ten thousand horses galloping. 黄河以万马奔腾之势滚滚向前。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The raging tide of revolution surges forward. 革命怒潮汹涌澎湃。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

5 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。