Spring Festival travel rush in China is arriving two weeks ahead of schedule in some regions this year. As the most used mode of transportation, railway travel has seen an increase in recent days.
In East China's Qingdao city, 23-thousand passengers take trains daily. Tickets in the previous five days to major cities have been sold out. Destinations in northeast China are also popular. To cope, local stations have changed procedures.
Previously passengers could only buy tickets ten days in advance of a trip. Now that has been adjusted to 21 days ahead for high speed rail, 11 days for regular trains and 12 days for student tickets.
Stations have also opened extra ticket booths for migrant workers. This year's travel rush is projected to start on January 19th. More than 230 million are predicted to travel on trains during the 40-day peak season.
China's Ministry of Railways announced Tuesday it will put into operation 586 more trains each day for this year's Spring Festival 40-day travel peak compared to the corresponding period last year.
Daily train departures during the travel rush, which starts on January 19, will be 4,531, a year-on-year increase of 15 percent.
The MOR estimates that 6.2 million passengers will be transported by train each day, up 11 percent year on year.
Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, is China's most important holiday during which people return home to be with family. This year it falls on February 3.
The MOR predicted passenger number to rise 12.5 percent to 230 million during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, averaging 5.75 million passenger journeys per day.
