中国国家发展和改革委员会副主任连维良于2016年1月19日表示，2016年中国春运预计发送旅客29.1亿人次，同比上年增长3.6%。

　　Lian also pointed out six characteristics of 2016 Spring Festival travel, and stressed thearduousness of planning for the season during a videophone conference.

　　在全国春运电视电话会议上，连维良表示，今年春运呈现六大特点，春运任务依旧艰巨。

　　First, the number of passengers keeps growing, increasing by 100 million from 2015, whichincreases the challenges of transport capacity and service guarantees.

　　第一，旅客人数不断增加，自2015年起增长了1亿人次，这加大了运输能力和服务保障的难度。

　　Second, despite the fact that 20 high-speed rails have been put into operation in the lastyear, and the operation mileage of national high-speed rails has reached 19,000kilometers, it is still hard for people to get tickets to hot destinations during peak hours.

　　第二，尽管去年20条高速铁路投入运行，但全国高铁运行里程已达19000公里，人们仍很难拿到高峰时段去热点地区的机票。

　　Third, with the improvement of people’s living standards, there has been a rapid growth ofdemand for air travel. During Spring Festival travel this year, an average of 11,700 flightsare scheduled for each day—an increase of 14.3 percent from last year. But the airports ofmajor cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, are already close tocapacity, and are sure to see a sharp rise in the coming weeks.

　　第三，随着人们生活水平的提高，人们对航空旅行的需求迅速增长。今年春节旅游期间，平均每天有11700次航班，与去年相比增加了14.3%。但主要城市的机场，如北京、上海、广州和深圳，机场容量已经接近饱和，而且在未来几周内肯定会大幅增长。

　　Fourth, people have more demand for personalized and diversified services. No longermerely satisfied by getting tickets, passengers have more expectations of what it means totravel well. These upgraded expectations will become the new normal when it comes totravel demand.

　　第四，人们对服务的要求更加个性化和多样化。不再仅仅满足于获得车票，乘客对更好的旅行有着更多的期望。当涉及到旅游需求时，这些升级的期望将成为新的常态。

　　Fifth, a number of severe accidents have happened in the recent past, which necessitatechanges and add stress to the overall security situation.

　　第五，最近发生了多起重大的安全事故，这需要改变并强调整体安全状况。

　　Sixth, the strong El Ni?o phenomenon will appear this winter, according to meteorologicalpredictions. Spring Festival travel faces even greater challenges when temperatures dropand snowy weather occurs in the northern regions. Heavy rain will also hit the southernregions of China, and there will be heavy haze days in the northern regions, such as Huang-Huai, Yangtze River and Huai River areas.

　　第六、根据气象预测，今年冬天极强的厄尔尼诺现象将会出现。当气温下降和北部地区出现下雪天气时，春节旅游面临更大的挑战。暴雨也会袭击中国南部地区，且如黄淮、长江和淮河流域等北部地区将出现严重的雾霾天气。

　　The top priority should be security this year, and all departments should strive to bringabout a safe, warm and faithful Spring Festival travel season.

　　今年首要的任务应该是安全，所有部门都要努力打造一个“平安、温馨、诚信”的春运。