China to see surge in train trips as holiday draws to close

BEIJING -- China will see a surge in train trips on Thursday as an eight-day national holiday draws to a close, according to the China State Railway Group Co Ltd.

On Thursday, 13 million train trips are expected, and 1,234 additional trains have been put into operation to handle the spike in trips involving tourism and family visits.

China's daily train trips had exceeded 10 million for eight consecutive days by Wednesday, the railway operator said.

China celebrates its National Day on Oct 1, and the weeklong holiday this year has been extended to Oct 8 as it overlapped with the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional festival symbolizing family reunion that falls on Aug 15 on the lunar calendar.

Due to COVID-19, self-driving tours have grown popular in the holiday, bringing more road travel risks. Before the festival, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism had predicted the proportion of self-driving trips would exceed 60 percent during the holiday.

The office of the State Council production safety committee and the Ministry of Emergency Management on Tuesday held a virtual meeting to boost safety precautions during the holiday.

The meeting stressed traffic flow was heavy, and road transport safety risks were high during the holiday, with high risks of rear-end collision on expressways and more accidents involving private vehicles such as motorcycles.

The Ministry of Public Security also held a virtual meeting on Tuesday to further boost traffic safety for the remaining holiday.