CHINA’S railway network saw a record number of passengers during this year’s recently concluded summer season, evidence that the nation’s economy is recovering. According to the China State Railway Group (CSRG), the national railway operator, 830 million passenger trips and 640 million metric tons of goods were transported during the summer season, which began July 1 and ended Aug. 31. The previous summer season record was in 2019, before the pandemic, when 735 million passenger trips were made on the national railway network. According to the CSRG, this year’s summer season witnessed a surge in both passenger and freight demand. This year’s summer travel season was also the first since China optimized its COVID-19 management measures in January. The railway network was challenged with accommodating students, tourists and families while also ensuring the supply of essential commodities such as coal and food. To meet these requirements, the CSRG efficiently coordinated passenger and freight transportation, implemented meticulously designed train schedules and increased transportation capacity. These efforts aimed to enhance service quality and efficiency, providing strong support for the continuous recovery of the nation’s economy, the company said. To meet the strong travel demand, more services were offered based on the analysis of online ticket sales and the waiting list, including adding more carriages on regular-speed trains and operating bullet trains at night. The moves aimed to maximize passenger capacity. The measures effectively increased transportation between popular regions such as Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, the Yangtze River Delta region, Sichuan Province’s Chengdu, Chongqing and major tourist cities such as Xi’an in Shaanxi Province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. During the summer, an average of 10,269 passenger train services were operated on national railways every day. On the peak day, 15.69 million trips were made. Tourism trains were operated to popular destinations, and cross-border train services were arranged orderly. During the period, 26,000 trips were made on the China-Laos Railway, and 4.72 million trips were made between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. Last month, a Beijing resident surnamed Zhang took his son on vacation from the capital to Qingdao, Shandong Province, a popular coastal city in northern China. He frequently traveled between the capital and Qingdao for business this summer. “Usually I book train tickets one to three days in advance, no more than a week. There were plenty of tickets. No worries. But last month,when I planned the trip, the tickets were sold out for a week. At last, I planned the trip two weeks later,” Zhang said. “The train was very crowded with many children aboard. It was summer after all,” he said. (China Daily) | 