Railway increases services to meet holiday demand

China's railway has increased passenger services to cater to the rising travel need during the upcoming May Day holiday, adding more than 1,500 trains everyday, the national railway operator China State Railway Group said on Saturday.

From Thursday to May 4, about 10,500 passenger trains will run daily, or more than 1,500 services compared to the off-peak season. Among them, some bullet trains will operate at night, such as Beijing to Shenyang of Liaoning province, Taiyuan of Shanxi province, and Xi'an of Shaanxi province, as well as Hangzhou of Zhejiang province to Zhengzhou of Henan province.

According to the company, it is the operator's move to cater to the increase of travel demand during the five-day May Day holiday, which starts on Saturday. It is the first long holiday after the Spring Festival.

The company added long-distance passengers will travel at the beginning and the end of the holiday. Short-distance travelers will appear in the middle of the holiday. Many passengers will travel at the same time, causing more pressure on transportation.

According to the railway ticket booking system 12306, as of Saturday afternoon, 46.57 million tickets were sold during the holiday. Popular routes include Beijing to Shanghai, Beijing to Qingdao of Shandong province, Chengdu of Sichuan province to Xi'an, Guangzhou of Guangdong province to Nanning of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Guangzhou to Changsha of Hunan province.