Shanghai railway stations to see half a million departures daily over festival

Railway stations in Shanghai are expected to see an average of more than 440,000 departures per day for the upcoming five days since Saturday around the Mid-Autumn Festival, a 23.8 percent increase from the same period in 2019, according to the local railway administration.

The holiday, running from Sept 15 to 17, will see travel peak on the first day. Nearly 600,000 passengers are expected to depart from the 10 railway stations in Shanghai that day.

The surge in travel will be driven by family reunions and short-distance trips. Neighboring cities with beautiful scenery, such as Suzhou and Nanjing in Jiangsu province, and Hangzhou city in Zhejiang province, will attract a large number of tourists.

Popular railway routes will be busy during the holiday, such as the Shanghai-Suzhou-Nantong route. The newly operational Hangzhou-Wenzhou high-speed train route is anticipated to transport a considerable number of visitors to popular attractions along the route, including Hengdian World Studio.

Also, the opening of the 34th Shanghai Tourism Festival on Saturday will fascinate tourists from the Yangtze River Delta region with a diverse array of themed tours and activities.

To prepare for the surge in travel demand, 33 additional pairs of high-speed trains will be operated between Shanghai and several popular destinations, including cities in Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui. Some other measures to cope with the traffic increase will be taken when necessary, such as adding coaches to the trains.

Zhang Zile contributed to this story.