On January 15th, in the maintenance depot of motor vehicle application in Langfang, Tianjin EMU of China Railway Beijing Bureau Group Co., Ltd., mechanics carried out inspections overnight to ensure the safety of Spring Festival travel rush. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Xiaoshe
January 17, CR400AF— AE— No.2398 Fuxing intelligent moving sleeper train slowly entered motor vehicle application, Shenzhen, Guangzhou EMU. Xinhua News Agency reporter Mao Siqian photo
Entering the peak of Spring Festival travel rush in 2025, the major railway stations, passenger stations and airports are already crowded. During the period of Spring Festival travel rush this year, the cross-regional mobility of the whole society is expected to reach 9 billion person-times.
Since it first appeared in newspapers and periodicals in 1980, the word "Spring Festival travel rush" has been closely associated with Chinese. On January 18th, 2023, General Secretary of the Supreme Leader visited the railway passenger transport cadres and workers by video link, and pointed out that Spring Festival travel rush is a major event that concerns the vital interests of the people, economic development and social stability.
Spring Festival travel rush, a unique scenery in China, bears the good wishes of the reunion of hundreds of millions of people. This "the largest periodic migration of human beings" is undoubtedly a big test of transportation ability and organizational ability. What’s the solution to the problem? China used decades of efforts to hand in an answer sheet that satisfied the people.
From the low-speed and slow-moving of imported locomotives to the galloping of China Fuxing in China, from the railway-oriented to the "iron public machine water", from queuing all night to buying tickets on the palm — — Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has taken various measures to meet people’s travel needs, and the situation in Spring Festival travel rush has undergone tremendous changes. From this, we can not only see the rapid development of the transportation industry, but also highlight the great progress and vitality of China’s economy and society.
Traffic progress improves the level of transportation capacity.
On September 25, 2023, the supreme leader of president sent a congratulatory letter to the Global Sustainable Transportation Summit Forum, pointing out that building a safe, convenient, efficient, green, economical, inclusive and resilient sustainable transportation system is an important measure to support the high-quality development of the service economy and society and realize the beautiful vision of "everyone enjoys his trip and things flow smoothly".
Solving the Spring Festival travel rush problem is the key breakthrough to realize "people enjoy their activities and things flow smoothly". What is the difficulty of Spring Festival travel rush?
The difficulty lies in the mismatch between supply and demand.
"China’s rapid economic and social development has brought huge transportation demand, which is also the endogenous driving force for our transportation development." Li Yang, vice minister of the Ministry of Transport, said.
In the late 1970s, two major events profoundly affected Spring Festival travel rush’s traffic.
First, the national college entrance examination was resumed in 1977. In 1978, the number of tourists sent to Spring Festival travel rush increased greatly, and the increase of students returning home for the Spring Festival was one of the main factors, and students began to become an important source of passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush. Second, with more and more rural surplus laborers going out to work, a surging tide of migrant workers has formed, and the return of migrant workers during the Spring Festival has become another important source of passenger flow. These two events laid the foundation for the rapid development of Spring Festival travel rush passenger flow.
With the deepening of reform and economic development, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s economic vitality has continued to grow in generate, residents’ income has maintained growth, and personnel flow has become more frequent. Take the Pearl River Delta as an example. Before the reform and opening up, there were less than 1 million migrant workers. By 1991, this number had increased to 5 million; By 2017, it will increase to more than 47 million. All these have promoted the rapid growth of passenger traffic in Spring Festival travel rush.
The difficulty lies in structural imbalance.
During the period of Spring Festival travel rush, the passenger flow was not only large, but also unbalanced, which increased the contradiction between supply and demand.
Wang Hongye, a researcher at the Institute of Electronics of the Institute of Iron Science and Technology, explained that on the one hand, there is an imbalance in time. During the Spring Festival, everyone’s travel time is highly consistent, and demand is concentrated. During Spring Festival travel rush, especially during the Spring Festival holiday, the passenger flow in the tense direction is several times higher than usual.
On the other hand, it is the imbalance in direction. Before and after the Spring Festival, the superposition characteristics of "four streams" such as student flow, work flow, family visit flow and tourist flow are obvious, and the demand for transportation capacity between the labor input places such as Beishangguangshen and Shenzhen and some important labor export places is obviously higher than other areas. At the same time, the passenger flow also has obvious one-way characteristics, and there are often cases where tickets cannot be grabbed in one direction, but there are a large number of tickets left in the opposite direction.
Many factors make it difficult to go home for the New Year.
"In Spring Festival travel rush, 100% overload of trains was common. It is good to sit on four people in three seats, and it is also a good position to lie under the seat. There are people on the back of the chair and the luggage rack, and all the people in the toilet are squatting or standing. " Zhu Haibin, who has worked in Guangzhou Railway Station for more than 40 years, recalled that in order to let more passengers go home for the New Year, the railway department thought of many ways, such as changing the hard sleeper lower berth into a scattered seat for sale, increasing the sale of seatless tickets, and transferring some substitute buses from the railway bureau with small passenger flow to reinforce the railway bureau with large passenger flow, and so on.
Because the transportation capacity can’t keep up with the traffic volume, the passenger traffic statistics of Spring Festival travel rush are calculated based on the transportation capacity for a long time.
How to improve transportation capacity?
The first is to speed up. Since 1997, in just 10 years, China’s railways have experienced six speed increases, the railway network has been greatly improved, the layout has been further optimized, and the degree of electrification has been greatly improved.
However, the speed increase of existing lines will eventually be limited, and further improvement of transport capacity requires a breakthrough in transportation technology at a higher level. It is necessary to improve the ability of self-reliance and self-reliance in science and technology, master core technologies, and build China’s own cars.
In 2004, in order to achieve the goal of railway leap-forward development, the former Ministry of Railways adopted the mode of "introducing, digesting, absorbing and innovating" to develop high-speed rail. On August 1, 2008, China’s first high-speed railway with a speed of 350 kilometers per hour — — Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway officially opened for operation.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, railway construction has reached a new level. According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Science and Information Technology of China State Railway Group Co.,Ltd., under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core, China Railway has unswervingly taken the road of independent innovation, independently developed a large number of scientific and technological innovations represented by Fuxing EMU, and built a complete set of high-speed rail technology system covering three major fields of high-speed rail engineering construction, equipment manufacturing and operation management. China high-speed rail has achieved historic progress from catching up to leading, and high-speed rail technology has set an international benchmark.
The speed keeps setting a new record. At 9: 30 on December 29th, 2024, on the circular test track, two CR450 EMU trains with a speed of 400km/h made their debut. The two head schemes of "Flying Arrow" and "Eagle Falcon" were particularly eye-catching, and the main indicators such as the operating speed, energy consumption, interior noise and braking distance of the prototype were internationally leading, which marked a major breakthrough in the "CR450 Science and Technology Innovation Project".
Build to achieve intelligent breakthrough. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the intelligence of railway construction has advanced by leaps and bounds. On December 26, 2024, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Lake high-speed railway was put into operation. Li Tuo, general manager of China Railway Electrification Bureau No.1 Company, introduced that during the construction of Shanghai-Suzhou-Lake Railway, the "platform on the cloud" of the high-speed railway four-electricity project was innovatively built — — Intelligent construction center, through the use of 5G, Internet of Things, edge computing, BIM, digital twinning and other technologies to build a data center, collect and share construction data, improve efficiency, optimize processes, and make the project connection smoother. "We have also completed and opened a joint construction ‘ Belt and Road ’ Milestone project — — China-Laos Railway and China’s first high-speed rail crossing the alpine zone — — Harbin-Dalian high-speed railway and Beijing-Zhangjia high-speed railway have opened a new era of intelligent high-speed railway. "
The system is comprehensive and overall leading. At 10: 33 on February 25, 2017, the G65 train left Beijing West Railway Station and ran on the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, marking the official launch of the prototype of China Standard EMU, which was designed and developed by China and has comprehensive independent intellectual property rights. On June 25th of the same year, China Standard EMU was officially named "Fuxing". The birth and operation of "Fuxing" Chinese standard EMU marks a key step of "from catching up to leading" for China high-speed railway, and China’s railway technology and equipment manufacturing has ushered in a new era.
The innovative breakthrough of high-speed rail has further consolidated and expanded the leading edge of China’s railways, added new kinetic energy for China to move from a big transportation country to a strong transportation country, and also provided Spring Festival travel rush with more transportation space.
It is not spring that outshines others, but a hundred flowers blossom in spring. In order to let more people go home for the New Year, we must work together to build a comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network.
On January 26th, 2024, China’s domestic large plane C919 carried 111 passengers and carried out the first flight to Spring Festival travel rush. On New Year’s Eve, 2024, the domestic large-scale cruise ship "Aida Modu" with more than 4,500 passengers just rolled off the production line, and started a wonderful trip to the sea for the New Year … …
Focusing on the establishment of a sustainable transportation system, since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China has continuously increased its investment in transportation. From 2013 to 2023, the national transportation investment grew at an average annual rate of 8.1%. Among them, the investment in road transportation increased by 10.1% annually, the investment in air transportation increased by 7.3% annually, the investment in railway transportation increased by 4.3% annually, the investment in water transportation increased by 3.2% annually, rural roads were continuously improved, the annual output of new energy vehicles exceeded 10 million, and the charging facilities were continuously improved.
A comprehensive transportation network with railways as the backbone, roads, water transport, aviation and other modes of transportation has been formed throughout the country, which has achieved the effect of "1+1>2" and improved the convenience of travel and the efficiency of traffic operation.
Wu Chungeng, chief planner and director of the comprehensive planning department of the Ministry of Transport, introduced that in 2024, the Ministry of Transport compiled and completed the "Main Frame Route Plan of the National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network" and planned to implement the quality improvement project of the main frame of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network, which will gradually narrow the gap between the central and western regions and the eastern region, and the regional transportation integration will continue to advance in depth, ensuring the continuous improvement of Spring Festival travel rush’s capacity.
Technology empowerment improves travel experience
On October 14th, 2021, when the Supreme Leader of president delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2nd United Nations Global Sustainable Transportation Conference by video, he pointed out that it is necessary to vigorously develop smart transportation and smart logistics, and promote the deep integration of new technologies such as big data, Internet, artificial intelligence and blockchain with the transportation industry.
Through unremitting efforts, the transportation capacity has been greatly improved, which has been able to meet the daily travel needs, but it is still stretched to cope with the peak passenger flow during Spring Festival travel rush. Even if the capacity potential is maximized, the supply of capacity in some key directions and hot spots during peak hours is still relatively tight.
"From an economic point of view, traffic construction cannot be designed according to the maximum demand of Spring Festival travel rush, otherwise it will cause huge waste on weekdays. To improve the travel experience, we must use technology to empower and promote the wide application of technologies such as informationization and intelligence." Li Wei, director of the Institute of Urban Transportation and Modern Logistics of the Planning and Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport, introduced.
It is necessary to strengthen intelligent control and improve the response speed of the traffic system.
On January 14th, the first day of Spring Festival travel rush, in the comprehensive control room of Beijing North Railway Station, the reporter saw the "passenger service and production management and control platform system of passenger stations" developed by the Institute of Iron and Steel, which is the intelligent brain of Beijing-Zhangjia high-speed railway, the product of China Railway combined with its own actual research and development in the era of big data, and embodies the core content of intelligent stations.
"This system contains multiple modules, which can realize the comprehensive treatment of various passenger-related businesses such as station passenger service, operation organization, safety prevention and control, equipment management and emergency command." According to the relevant person in charge of Beijing North Railway Station of Beijing Railway Bureau, taking the video linkage module as an example, the video monitoring equipment of Beijing North Railway Station has the function of "monitoring linkage early warning". By setting the video data conditions and analyzing the video content in real time, it is possible to realize timely warning and prompt for situations such as excessive passenger flow density and long queue, and intelligent detection and rapid warning can be realized without manual inspection. At the same time, the system automatically sends an alarm message to the employee’s handheld terminal. After receiving the prompt message, the employee can rush to the scene in time for proper disposal.
It is necessary to strengthen the guidance of science and technology and improve the standard and optimize service level.
Driving on the Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway, the scientific and technological support is more powerful. The Shaoxing Management Center of Zhejiang Communications Group and the high-speed traffic police jointly built 11 unmanned aerial vehicle nests on the main line of Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway. In case of vehicle violation, breakdown and congestion, the unmanned aerial vehicle immediately took off automatically, and arrived at the accident point to hover before the ground personnel arrived, giving early warning or providing night lighting to remind the company to evacuate quickly and orderly, and at the same time transmitting live video to the monitoring and command center in real time to serve the command and decision.
More black technologies play a key role at various points: millimeter-wave human body imaging security devices certified by civil aviation A3 are applied at airports in Beijing and Hangzhou, and the average personal security time of passengers can be shortened from 30 seconds to 15 seconds; A self-service robot is put into Changsha South Station, Hunan Province, which can recognize faces and voices, making it convenient for passengers to inquire about the ticket gate and whether it is late or late. A batch of ice condensation early warning systems of Xizhou Expressway are fully put into use, and a terminal can monitor the road surface temperature in real time to ensure the safety of travel; On the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, the upgraded "Ship Communication" system of Huai ‘an Ship Lock enables ships to pass fully intelligently, and the efficiency is significantly improved.
It is necessary to strengthen security and ensure the safe and smooth travel of the masses.
General Secretary of the Supreme Leader attached great importance to traffic safety in Spring Festival travel rush, and stressed that the transportation departments should resolutely implement the requirements of the CPC Central Committee, improve the ability to ensure smooth traffic, ensure the people’s safe and healthy travel, and ensure the smooth and orderly transportation of key materials.
The person in charge of the Transportation Service Department of the Ministry of Transport said that through the joint construction of the national comprehensive transportation information platform, cross-regional and cross-disciplinary data sharing and business collaboration will be strengthened, effectively supporting risk warnings such as road network congestion in extreme weather. The information chain of emergencies such as highway and waterway transportation and road transportation is established by means of informatization, and emergency management departments are provided with "one-click direct query" of emergency data, which greatly improves the efficiency of incident handling and emergency dispatch.
In addition to the innovation of traffic management service departments, in recent years, online ticketing system, intelligent navigation system, and "e-road unblocked" highway traffic infrastructure random inspection service have been continuously applied, providing more convenience for people to travel during Spring Festival travel rush.
Many Chinese are still fresh in my memory. In the past, during each visit to Spring Festival travel rush, there were long queues around the railway station to buy tickets. "At that time, the passengers who bought tickets at Shenzhen Railway Station were all lined up from the station window to the front of the station, which was 10 miles long. Many passengers were all in the whole family and took turns to queue up all night." Wei Yingchun, a passenger attendant at Shenzhen Railway Station who has been engaged in passenger transport for more than 30 years, still remembers the "tragic" degree of Spring Festival travel rush’s ticket purchase.
The appearance of the Internet, especially the online and continuous improvement of the 12306 ticketing system, ended the long queue for decades.
In 1996, China began to sell tickets by computer for the first time, which opened the prelude to the automation of railway ticket sales in China. On June 18, 2019, China Railway Corporation was restructured and established China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. This year, high-speed railway station and intercity railways across the country began to implement e-tickets on a large scale, marking the entry of China Railway into the era of e-tickets.
Different from e-commerce websites, the logic algorithm of railway ticketing system is much more complicated. Taking the calculation of residual tickets as an example, the same line is not only divided into ordinary speed trains and high-speed trains, but also covers a number of operating intervals, and each train has to distinguish different seats … … It may take tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of complex calculations to query the remaining tickets only once. According to the data, during the Spring Festival travel rush in 2024, the daily visits of Railway 12306 system peaked at 200 billion times, while the world search giant Google only had 6 billion times.
Shan Xinghua, chief researcher of china academy of railway sciences Group Co., Ltd. and deputy director of China Railway 12306 Science and Technology Innovation Center, led the team to successfully build a super-large real-time ticketing system with completely independent intellectual property rights and leading global transaction volume after 28 years of efforts. "At the moment, during the rush hour of ticket sales in Spring Festival travel rush, the railway 12306 system can sell more than 1,000 train tickets in one second. This means that you can get all the tickets for a high-speed train in one second ‘ Spike ’ 。” Shan Xinghua said.
Today, the registered users of Railway 12306 have accumulated over 700 million, and it has become an online and offline integrated ticketing trading platform with the highest number of visits, the largest number of tickets sold and the richest channels in the world, making the long queue of tickets queued in front of the station square a thing of the past and making scalpers lose their living space.
The significance of Railway 12306 is not only a ticketing platform. Through the analysis of passenger flow big data, it can help the passenger transport department to predict the development trend of passenger flow, optimize the allocation of resources, deeply tap the transportation potential, meet the potential needs of passengers, make correct marketing decisions and maximize the transportation capacity.
Constant heat accompanied by focus shift
Spring Festival travel rush in 2025 will last for 40 days from January 14th to February 22nd. According to the forecast of the National Development and Reform Commission, during the period of Spring Festival travel rush, the cross-regional mobility of the whole society will reach about 9 billion person-times, up about 7% year-on-year, and the scale will reach a record high.
At the same time, new trends and changes have quietly appeared in Spring Festival travel rush.
"Looking back on Spring Festival travel rush in the past, these years have changed so much … …” In Spring Festival travel rush in 2025, Zhang Xigang, the conductor of Qingdao Passenger Transport Section of Jinan Bureau of China Railway, welcomed the 43rd Spring Festival travel rush and the last Spring Festival travel rush in his career. He experienced the era when China Railway entered the era of bullet trains and high-speed trains, witnessed the transformation of paper tickets into e-tickets, and felt the passengers returning home changed from "walking well" to "walking well". Nowadays, Spring Festival travel rush’s way home is less embarrassed to carry luggage and load, and a little more comfortable to check in and check in. Looking at the changes in Spring Festival travel rush today, Zhang Xigang couldn’t help sighing, "This was unexpected more than ten years ago".
There are many unexpected situations.
Unexpectedly, the peak passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush has been surpassed — —
Contrary to most people’s impression, Spring Festival travel rush’s passenger flow is still very large, but it is no longer unattainable.
By horizontal comparison, the single-day peak in Spring Festival travel rush has been surpassed. Although the single-day passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush has repeatedly hit a new high in the same period in the past two years, in the whole year, the single-day peak has been surpassed by other holidays. Taking railway transportation as an example, according to the statistics of the reporters, the single-day passenger traffic of the railway has reached four record highs in 2023 and 2024. Among them, on October 1, 2024, the railway sent 21.448 million passengers, a record high in a single day.
By vertical comparison, the business passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush decreased. Although the turnover of the whole society in Spring Festival travel rush has reached a new high, excluding the influence of the change of statistical methods, the business passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush has dropped a lot from the peak. According to statistics, in 1981, the railway Spring Festival travel rush exceeded 100 million passengers; In 1984, passengers transported by rail, highway, waterway, aviation and other means were included in the passenger flow statistics of Spring Festival travel rush, reaching more than 500 million passengers that year; In 2014, the passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush exceeded 3.6 billion, reaching its peak. Since then, the total number has declined. From 2015 to 2019, the total number of passengers sent by Spring Festival travel rush has basically remained at 2.9 billion to 3 billion; From 2020 to 2023, due to the epidemic, the passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush was greatly reduced; In 2024, due to the change of statistical caliber in Spring Festival travel rush, the cross-regional mobility of the whole society reached 8.42 billion person-times, but eight of them became self-driving trips, and the business passenger traffic was about 1.7 billion person-times, only half of the peak period.
Unexpectedly, self-driving travel has become the main force — —
The decrease of business passenger flow also reflects the rapid growth of self-driving travel.
In Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, where the traffic is busy, the traffic volume has remained at a high level since the beginning of Spring Festival travel rush, especially the Shenzhong Passage and Huangmaohai Cross-sea Passage, which were opened to traffic in 2024, ushered in the first Spring Festival travel rush University Entrance Examination. As the only direct highway passage between Shenzhen Guanhui and Zhujiang River, the maximum daily traffic volume of Shenzhen-Zhongjiang Passage in Spring Festival travel rush may set a new record of 155,000 vehicles during the National Day holiday last year.
According to Feng Liguang, director of the Comprehensive Transportation Service Department of the Ministry of Transport, in 2025, the cross-regional mobility of the whole society in Spring Festival travel rush will reach 9 billion person-times, and self-driving travel will remain the dominant position, which is expected to reach 7.2 billion person-times, accounting for about 80% of the cross-regional mobility of the whole society, and the expressway traffic volume will peak in a single day or hit a record high.
The increase in the proportion of self-driving travel modes has also changed the composition and statistical methods of passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush. In 2023, Spring Festival travel rush introduced the concept of "passenger flow" for the first time based on the statistics of the commercial passenger traffic of railways, highways, waterways and civil aviation, and included the national passenger traffic of expressway passenger cars into the passenger flow statistics of Spring Festival travel rush; In 2024, Spring Festival travel rush will further expand the statistical caliber, including the passenger trips of ordinary national and provincial buses.
Unexpectedly, the charging pile has become the focus of attention — —
Before the arrival of Spring Festival travel rush, in addition to paying attention to the difficulty of buying train tickets, charging piles have also become the focus of attention. When the State Council held a press conference to introduce the situation and work arrangement of Spring Festival travel rush in 2025, it also specifically explained the construction of charging piles and the dispatching situation during Spring Festival travel rush. This all reflects the importance of charging piles, behind which is the great leap of China’s new energy automobile industry.
At one time, China’s automobile market was dominated by imports and joint ventures. In recent years, China’s automobile industry has sprung up suddenly, taking new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles as breakthroughs, leading the industrial transformation and upgrading and realizing "overtaking in corners". Since 2015, the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China have leapt to the top in the world, and have remained so far. By the end of 2024, the number of new energy vehicles in China reached 31.4 million, accounting for 8.9% of the total number of vehicles.
Therefore, it has become the focus of the transportation department to ensure the charging service along the highway during Spring Festival travel rush. Gao Bo, head of the Transportation Service Department of the Ministry of Transport, said that fast charging facilities of 120 kW and above are widely used in the national expressway service areas, and super charging stations of 600 kW to 800 kW have been built in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and other provinces to meet the needs of short-term fast charging as much as possible. In addition, mobile emergency charging equipment will be arranged reasonably and charging resources will be allocated as a whole.
Li Tao said that despite so many changes, overall, the passenger traffic during Spring Festival travel rush is still very large and the task is still very heavy.
There are advantages in peak transportation capacity. Although the single-day passenger flow record has been surpassed, the passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush is still huge. For example, in the seven days of the National Day holiday in 2024, the cross-regional mobility of the whole society was 2.003 billion person-times, with an average of 286 million person-times per day; In the eight days of the Spring Festival holiday in 2024, the total number of cross-regional personnel movements in the whole society reached 2.293 billion, with an average daily turnover of 287 million, which was basically the same. Although the cross-regional personnel flow on October 1, 2024 was 331 million person-times, exceeding the peak of return flow on February 15, 2024 (the sixth day of the first month), the remaining six days of the National Day holiday were less than 300 million person-times, while the Spring Festival holiday exceeded 300 million person-times for five consecutive days.
The increase in self-driving reflects convenience. Less commercial passenger flow is not less demand, but more choices. Since 2015, the number of newly registered motor vehicles in China has exceeded 30 million for 10 consecutive years. By the end of 2024, the number of motor vehicles in China reached 453 million, and the number of vehicles in 96 cities in China exceeded one million. Coupled with the policy of exempting high-speed tolls for passenger cars during the Spring Festival holiday, the proportion of self-driving travel is getting higher and higher. This fully reflects the high-quality development of China’s economy and society and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, making personalized travel more convenient. Self-driving is an important part of Spring Festival travel rush, which also brings greater pressure to traffic security in Spring Festival travel rush.
Economic development affects the pattern of Spring Festival travel rush.
"Spring Festival travel rush is not a simple flow of people, but a reflection of homesickness for generations. The change in Spring Festival travel rush is the epitome of the social changes in China, and it is also the vitality of flowing generate in China. " Li Wei said.
The great changes and new situation in Spring Festival travel rush not only reflect Spring Festival travel rush’s own progress and achievements in the development of transportation industry, but also are the result of many factors such as China’s economic development, regional coordination, industrial renewal, technological progress and life improvement, reflecting the deepening reform and high-quality development in China.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with the Supreme Leader as the core, China has deepened reform and opening up, strengthened macro-control, effectively responded to risk challenges, and promoted historic achievements and changes in China’s economic and social development. The stable macroeconomic operation, the continuous stimulation of innovation vitality, the adjustment and optimization of industrial structure, the deepening of reform and opening up, the coordinated development of regional urban and rural areas, the accelerated overall green transformation, the increased protection of people’s livelihood and the increasing improvement of people’s living standards have profoundly changed the pattern of Spring Festival travel rush.
From the supply side, Spring Festival travel rush’s transportation capacity and services have been effectively improved — —
The improvement of infrastructure brings about the improvement of transportation capacity.
At the beginning of Spring Festival travel rush, China was short of transportation infrastructure, backward transportation tools and limited transportation capacity. With the development of economy and the deepening of reform, China’s transportation infrastructure network is becoming more and more perfect, and the world’s largest high-speed railway network, expressway network and world-class port group have been built, and aviation navigation has reached the whole world.
In terms of railways, through unremitting efforts, the mileage has grown from "less than one cigarette" per capita to 162,000 kilometers, of which the mileage of high-speed railways exceeds 48,000 kilometers, exceeding the sum of other countries in the world; On the highway side, in 1988, the first expressway in China, Hujia Expressway, was opened to traffic. Up to now, the mileage of expressways in China is about 190,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. In terms of civil aviation, in 1993, the state abolished the requirement of buying air tickets with a letter of introduction, and all localities began to speed up the construction of airports, and civil aviation began to enter public life; In terms of water transport, the navigation mileage of high-grade waterways exceeds 67,000 kilometers; In particular, the main skeleton of the national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network "6 axes, 7 corridors and 8 channels" has been completed with a mileage of more than 260,000 kilometers and a completion rate of about 90%.
In 2024, the total mileage of China’s comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network has exceeded 6 million kilometers, and its transportation service capacity has been continuously enhanced. It is moving from a big transportation country to a strong transportation country, providing strong support for people to travel. In Spring Festival travel rush this year, the passenger traffic of railways and civil aviation is expected to exceed 510 million and 90 million respectively, both reaching record highs.
Changes in traffic formats provide more choices.
At the beginning of Spring Festival travel rush, most trips depended on commercial passenger transport, and the train was the most important travel tool. Subsequently, highways, water transport and civil aviation began to exert their strength one after another, forming a multi-level travel system. Since then, with the development and progress of the times, the situation has gradually changed.
"In addition to the traditional commercial modes of transportation such as railways, highways and civil aviation, new modes of travel such as self-driving travel and customized passenger transport are gradually emerging, providing more choices for passengers. China’s transportation service capacity is stronger and the service methods are more diverse. These new modes of travel are more flexible and convenient, which can better meet the individual needs of passengers. " Li Wei said.
There are also some regional and phased travel choices that have also had a huge impact. For example, in the late 1990s, migrant workers working in the Pearl River Delta generally owned motorcycles. There is no need to buy a ticket and free time. During the Spring Festival, there began to be an army of motorcycles returning home. At the peak, there were hundreds of thousands or even millions of motorcycles returning home from Guangdong before the Spring Festival every year. Every rush hour in Spring Festival travel rush, motorcyclists will form a long queue on the national highway. Every year, local governments and transportation departments along the route set up rest spots along the national highway where motorcyclists pass to provide refueling and catering services.
In recent years, with the development of digital technology and Internet platform, more new modes of travel, such as car sharing, carpooling and hitchhiking, have emerged, further enriching people’s choices.
From the demand side, Spring Festival travel rush’s travel demand has been dispersed, and personalized requirements have increased — —
Coordinated regional development reduces the flow.
On January 16th, 2020, Zhou Yungui, who lives in Ma Jin Ryu, Ziyang County, Shaanxi Province, got on the 6065 train to his hometown at Ankang Railway Station, which was his last journey home from Guangzhou. During his seven years of working abroad, Zhou Yungui has managed five large and small breeding bases, which has enabled him to accumulate rich breeding techniques. Now the village has built an alpine fish farm, which just comes in handy. "I have long wanted to come back, but I can’t bear to learn this craft so hard. I just brought it back together this time." He pointed to the thick notebook of breeding technology and said that he would never have to run around again.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to regional coordinated development, implemented the strategy of regional coordinated development in depth, and gradually enhanced the coordination and balance of regional development, thus driving changes in industrial transfer and personnel flow. Many people who used to need to go out to find jobs have now achieved local employment.
Data from various places also verified this trend. For example, Fuyang, Anhui Province, an important export destination for migrant workers, saw the rise of migrant workers in 1992, when Spring Festival travel rush sent 210,000 passengers. In 2010, the passenger flow reached a historical peak, sending 1.72 million passengers. In 2011, there was an inflection point, sending 1.64 million passengers. Since then, the number of people sent by Spring Festival travel rush has been declining, and in 2016 it dropped to 1.47 million.
The change of life concept makes the demand more balanced — —
"If you have money, go home for the New Year", which has been the unanimous idea of migrant workers for a long time, has also supported the passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush. With the development of society, people’s lifestyles and life concepts have undergone major changes.
"Reunion" doesn’t have to go home. Although reunion during the Spring Festival is still the choice of most people, some young people have settled down in big cities. During the Spring Festival, they choose to take their parents and children to the city where they work for the Spring Festival, and reunite in reverse. This reflects the change of people’s mentality: where is the family, where is the home. It also helps to reduce the transportation pressure in popular directions and effectively use the reverse transportation capacity.
Improvised travel is more popular. The improvement of economic conditions makes people have a more personalized pursuit of life. Compared with the Spring Festival, many people began to choose to travel during the "May 1 ST" and "Eleventh" holidays, or take advantage of annual leave to travel on weekdays, saying that they will leave, travel by car, and be at ease.
These conceptual changes have effectively changed the direction and time of passenger flow, which has had a great impact on the passenger flow in Spring Festival travel rush.
Diversified travel needs make the guarantee more complicated — —
During the period of Spring Festival travel rush in 2024, a large number of tourists from popular tourist cities such as Sanya, Haikou and Boao were unable to leave because it was hard to get a return ticket. At the same time, the weather changes in Qiongzhou Strait have blocked navigation, and the number of self-driving tourists leaving the island from various ports in Haikou City has remained at a high level for some time.
This kind of situation is rare in the past. Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s economy has developed continuously and rapidly. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have continuously adjusted the distribution pattern of national income and achieved remarkable results in increasing residents’ income and improving people’s lives. The per capita disposable income of residents increased from 171 yuan in 1978 to 16,510 yuan in 2012 and then to 41,314 yuan in 2024. The improvement of income level makes people travel more freely during the Spring Festival. Not only airplanes and high-speed trains become daily choices, but also niche tours and special tours are more common. Whether it’s an old tourist city or a new online celebrity city, they try their best to attract tourists, seeing snow in the north, avoiding the cold in the south, chasing sports and feeling the culture … … People’s choices are more and more varied, and it is more and more complicated to do a good job in traffic protection during Spring Festival travel rush.
Behind the hustle and bustle of Spring Festival travel rush, there are more tender moments and efficient transportation — —
81 pairs of public welfare "slow trains" covering 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, carrying fruits, vegetables and livestock, walked among the mountains at the lowest fare in 2 yuan, supporting the hope of the people out of poverty to pursue a better life;
The wide application of Internet of Things, big data, artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned vehicles and intelligent warehousing technologies has ensured the express delivery during the Spring Festival and enriched the people’s holiday tables;
Ten thousand-ton heavy-duty trains drill caves and cross canyons, full of coal, seeds, fertilizers and other means of production and living, warm winter and sow spring … …
The development of economy and society, the improvement of traffic conditions and the progress of science and technology have constantly reshaped the form of Spring Festival travel rush and the way of celebrating festivals. However, the theme and spiritual core of reunion have been continuing, constantly strengthening Chinese’s identity, family identity, national identity and cultural identity, and also inspiring us to continue to struggle for our common dream and forge ahead on a new journey. (Economic Daily reporter Qi Hui Wang Yuchen)
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