Rail passenger numbers jump 23% during Spring Festival

By Shen Yuan, Yichang International Communication Studio
 

About 236,000 travelers left Yichang via rail during the seven-day Chinese New Year break from January 21 till 27, nearly 23 percent higher than the same period in 2022.
 

January 27 – the sixth day of the Chinese New Year – was the busiest day for trains departing from Yichang. About 73,000 passengers left Yichang, up 10.3 percent on a year ago and equivalent to 72 percent of the pre-COVID 2019 level.
 

Of the 260 passenger trains that left Yichang that day, 23 were special trains added to meet the surge in demand. The busiest route, with 21 extra trains, was between Yichang and Wuhan.
 

Goods trains – loaded with commodities such as fertilizer, coal, oil, iron ore and grain – kept running during the Spring Festival. Around 229,000 tons of freight were handled, close to the amount in the same period in 2022. The volume of refined oil moved was 6.8 percent higher than last year at 42,000 tons, with iron ore up 18.2 percent to 60,000 tons.