The number of cross-regional personnel movements across the country will reach 9 billion
2024 Spring Festival Transport, See Mobile China Again
Reporter Ye Zi
On the morning of January 26, the T3 terminal of Wuhan Tianhe Airport in Hubei Province was filled with gongs and drums, and lions were prancing and jumping. Li Lei, a junior student, and his family were preparing to fly directly from Wuhan to Hong Kong. "I'm taking advantage of the winter vacation to travel with my parents. I hope this trip can broaden my horizons," Li Lei said.
The 2024 Spring Festival Transport has begun. This year's Spring Festival travel period lasts for 40 days. From January 26 to March 5, the cross-regional movement of people across the country is expected to reach 9 billion, and commercial passenger traffic on railways, highways, waterways, civil aviation, etc. will rebound across the board.
The flow of people returning home, visiting relatives, students, and tourists... After the Spring Festival travel season began, train stations, airports, and passenger transport hubs around the country were crowded with people, and the passenger flow increased. In addition, New Year accessories such as Year of the Dragon themed stickers, lanterns, and Chinese knots were everywhere. A picture of Spring Festival travel with orderly order, efficient service and rich New Year flavor has become a vivid epitome of mobile China, warm China and civilized China.
Capacity guaranteed
"Passenger and freight transportation will remain at a high level during this year's Spring Festival travel season, showing the characteristics of 'two highs and two big'." At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 16, Li Yang, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport, introduced this year's Spring Festival travel season. situation.
Cross-regional personnel movements will hit a record high. It is expected that travel demand during the Spring Festival this year will be further released, and the number of cross-regional people movements across the country will reach 9 billion. Among them, commercial passenger traffic such as railways, highways, waterways, and civil aviation will rebound across the board, with a total volume exceeding 1.8 billion passengers, a year-on-year increase of approximately 40%.
The proportion of self-driving travel will reach a record high. With the structural changes in the public's travel habits and the increase in the period of free tolls for passenger cars during the Spring Festival holiday, the public's willingness to choose self-driving travel has increased significantly. It is estimated that the number of non-commercial passenger car trips on Spring Festival Expressways and general national and provincial trunk lines will be about 7.2 billion, and self-driving trips during the Spring Festival holiday will account for 80% of the total travel volume in society.
Transportation and logistics are facing greater pressure to ensure smooth traffic. During the Spring Festival, there is a strong demand for the transportation of vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, milk and other people's livelihood materials, coal, natural gas and other energy materials to keep warm and secure, as well as spring plowing preparation materials. It is necessary to coordinate the organization of large passenger flow transportation to ensure the logistics "main artery" and the city The terminal "microcirculation" is smooth.
Comprehensive transportation safety production faces greater challenges. The Spring Festival travel period lasts a long time, the transportation intensity is high, the actual load rate of transportation vehicles is high, the transportation system continues to operate at full capacity, and severe weather such as low temperature, rain, snow, and ice is prone to occur frequently, making safety production, emergency support and other tasks even more arduous.
Faced with the pressure of extremely large passenger flows, the Ministry of Transport and other departments have begun to strengthen passenger flow research and judgment, capacity assurance, safety management and emergency response to ensure the safe travel of the public.
The person in charge of the Passenger Transport Department of China Railway Group said that this year’s Spring Festival Transport is the first normalized Spring Festival Transport after the smooth transition of epidemic prevention and control. It is expected that the railway passenger flow will be superimposed on the flow of visiting relatives, students, workers, and tourists, showing an overall high level of operation and savings. It is relatively stable before the holiday and relatively concentrated after the holiday. The national railways are expected to carry 480 million passengers, with an average of 12 million passengers per day, an increase of 37.9% compared to the 2023 Spring Festival travel period.
"We will arrange transportation capacity scientifically and rationally, make good use of the transportation resources of new lines and stations such as the Hangzhou-Changzhou High-speed Railway, Jizheng High-speed Railway, Jinxing Intercity Railway, and Guangzhou Baiyun Station that were newly opened last year, coordinate high-speed railways and normal-speed railways, and increase Passenger transport capacity release. The national railways implement the Spring Festival travel train operation chart. It is expected that about 12,700 passenger trains will be arranged daily before the holiday and about 12,800 passenger trains will be arranged daily after the holiday. The passenger capacity will increase by 14.4% and 12.6% respectively compared with the 2019 Spring Festival. ." the person in charge said.
In terms of civil aviation, it is expected that the passenger volume of civil aviation during the Spring Festival this year will reach 80 million, with an average of 2 million passengers per day, setting a new high.
"We will arrange flight plans scientifically and rationally to ensure that transportation capacity is fully prepared and resources are guaranteed." Liang Nan, Director of the Transportation Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that on the one hand, we will increase the number of flights and speed up the resumption of international flights to meet the people's travel needs during the Spring Festival travel period. . It is predicted that the average daily number of guaranteed flights during the Spring Festival in 2024 will reach 16,500, basically the same as in 2019 and an increase of 24% from 2023. On the other hand, we will strengthen collaborative decision-making, strengthen winter operation support capabilities, and improve the normal level of flights during the Spring Festival travel period.
In 2023, a total of 3,637 kilometers of new railway lines will be put into operation, more than 7,000 kilometers of highways will be built, renovated and expanded, 2 more newly certified civil transport airports will be added, the accessibility of the domestic route network will expand by 23%, and the new urban rail transit operating mileage will exceed 360 kilometers. . By the end of 2023, the country's high-speed rail mileage will reach 45,000 kilometers, and its highway mileage will reach 177,000 kilometers, both ranking first in the world. The bones of the transportation network are stronger, the blood vessels are smoother, and the transportation capacity is stronger.
Travel more conveniently
Many people have discovered that when they open the railway 12306 mobile client, a special area for "Spring Festival Travel Reservation and Booking for Students and Migrant Workers" has been added this year.
Starting from 0:00 on January 10, the railway 12306 mobile client has launched a ticket reservation function in the special area for students and migrant workers during the Spring Festival travel period. Qualified passengers can make reservations and purchase round-trip train tickets during the Spring Festival travel period through this special area. They can submit their tickets 17 days before departure ( For travel ticket needs including) and above, tickets can be reserved for March 5 at the latest.
During the Spring Festival this year, the China Railway Group has further improved the passenger ticket purchasing experience. According to the passenger flow trend, it dynamically adjusts the ticket allocation strategy every day, taking into account the travel needs of long-distance and short-distance passengers, and promptly allocates tickets to stations with greater passenger flow demand to maximize passenger travel. need. "We help passengers grab tickets more conveniently by pre-filling online ticket purchase requirements, subscribing to sales reminders, upgrading the waitlist function, and providing transfer suggestions," said Shan Xinghua, deputy director of the 12306 Science and Technology Innovation Center.
Not only is it more convenient to buy tickets during the Spring Festival, but passengers who choose air-rail combined transportation will also be able to travel more calmly. "High-speed trains chase planes, and trains and planes can change at will" has become a reality.
During the Spring Festival this year, Chengdu Shuangliu Airport and Tianfu Airport were both connected to the high-speed rail network, and transfers can be made at the same station within the terminal. Cao Juanrui, a girl from Leshan, Sichuan, took the high-speed train from Leshan to Chengdu. After meeting up with her sister, niece and nephew, they took a bus from Chengdu East Railway Station to Tianfu Airport. Next, they had to fly to Thailand to attend Cao Juanrui's graduation ceremony at Chiang Mai University. "It's great that the high-speed rail connects directly to the airport! It only takes 26 minutes, which is very convenient." Cao Juanrui said.
According to the research and analysis of the transportation department, self-driving traffic during this year’s Spring Festival will be extremely large. In the road network, including the expressway network and the national (provincial) road network, the average daily traffic volume is expected to reach 37.2 million vehicles, an increase of 7.5% compared with the same period last year. The peak is expected to occur on February 17, which is the eighth day of the first lunar month.
Faced with extremely large traffic, relevant departments have taken multiple measures to improve self-driving travel services.
"We have joined forces with the Ministry of Public Security to propose eight measures to ensure highway travel during major holidays, which mainly include strengthening the diversion of congested road sections, improving the traffic capacity of toll stations, optimizing obstacle clearance and rescue, etc. During the Spring Festival travel period, in response to the needs of large passenger flows, the service area will Add mobile restrooms and mobile charging facilities," Li Yang said.
Data shows that as of the end of November 2023, a total of 6,325 service areas with charging parking spaces have been built across the country, accounting for 95% of the total number of expressway service areas. During this year's Spring Festival, the Ministry of Transport also launched the "e-Road Smooth" WeChat applet to facilitate self-driving passengers. Open the mini program to check the location, real-time status and other information of highway charging facilities; in the event of an accident, you can "call for help" with one click through the mini program... Traveling by car is more worry-free.
Making travel more convenient for passengers is inseparable from a series of targeted innovative measures and the help of technology. During the Spring Festival in 2024, AI systems were frequently unveiled and information technology was widely used.
In the waiting hall of Beijing Fengtai Station, eight police robots were put on duty for the first time during the Spring Festival. Its screen scrolls with anti-fraud videos, train information and police phone numbers. There is also an alarm button on the top of the fuselage. As long as passengers press the alarm button, they can go directly to the police reception desk of the police station. Not only can they have real-time conversations, but the police reception desk can also See the footage of the person who called the police and the scene. Chen Hongzhen, political commissar of the Beijing Fengtai Station Police Station, said that the robot is mainly active in the waiting hall. Because of its fresh appearance, it can attract the attention of passengers and make it easier to remind passengers about travel safety.
At the Spring Festival Transport Office of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, traffic conditions and data in key areas of Guangzhou are displayed on a huge electronic screen. This smart transportation system is also known as the "most powerful brain" for Spring Festival transportation guarantee work. Yu Wei, deputy director of the Science and Technology Information Department of the Guangzhou Municipal Transportation Bureau, said that by integrating transportation data, satellite positioning, mobile signaling, traffic detectors, meteorology, environmental protection and other data, the system can display train flight conditions, high-speed smoothness, and other data in real time. "Sea, land and air" travel conditions such as transportation capacity near key areas can help make Spring Festival travel decisions more scientific and efficient, ensure smooth road networks, and speed up travelers' return home.
Heart-warming service
"Hello, the children's identification plate is green" "Old man, yours is the orange identification plate"... On the Fuxing train from Nanchang, Jiangxi to Beijing, Party member conductor Zhang Hui focused on the "five-color identification plate" passengers' seats and provide more detailed services for different types of key passengers.
Every passenger's safe and smooth trip is inseparable from the relevant staff who stick to their posts and provide attentive service. Zhang Hui's "four-hearted service method" is to show more concern for elderly passengers, be more patient with children, be more attentive to young people, and be more loving to adults with children. During the Spring Festival travel period, many adults take their children on long trips. Considering that there are many children and they are prone to making noise, which will affect the rest of other passengers, Zhang Hui specially set up a small classroom for children in the train dining car to teach the children about the equipment and facilities in the carriage. Some stickers and small toys were also prepared as prizes.
Nowadays, the Spring Festival transportation not only needs to be "goable" and "go fast", but also "go well". During this year's Spring Festival, various departments have launched many practical measures to promote service upgrades and make the journey home more warm.
"Mom, this 'dragon' is so cute, I want to take it home!" On the morning of January 27, in front of the Xinshang Lei Feng Service Studio at Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, a man was about to take the high-speed train back to his hometown in Wanzhou, Chongqing to celebrate the New Year. The husband's family of three was full of joy. The father showed off the Spring Festival couplets and the Chinese character "福" that had just been written by the calligrapher on the spot, while the younger daughter took over the dragon-shaped candy man made by a folk artist. On the same day, Hongqiao Railway Station held the "Our Festival·Spiritual Home" Spring Festival blessing event to send blessings to passengers. During the Spring Festival this year, Hongqiao Station also launched a "hand-warming project", adding hot water outlets in the toilets and adding charging devices next to the seat armrests to solve the problem of "difficulty charging" for passengers on their way home... Every detail reflects the thoughtful service. and meticulous.
At Kunming Airport in Yunnan, passengers holding flowers in their left hand and Yunnan’s local specialties in their right hand can be seen everywhere. During the Spring Festival travel period, the airport provides many special services for transit passengers. For example, New Year welcome activities have been launched in each transit management hall and lounge, and passengers can draw prizes and receive small gifts by participating in interactive topics. For transit passengers with a transit time of more than 4 hours, the airport provides free city tours in Kunming. Passengers can choose from five routes including Cuihu Lecture Hall, Nanqiang Street, Dounan Flower Market, Haigeng Park, and Yunnan Provincial Museum.
During the Spring Festival travel period, Air China will decorate every aspect of passenger air travel with a “strong flavor of the New Year”. Air China’s mobile app has launched a New Year’s Goods Festival event, where new year’s gifts such as big prizes, large coupons, flash sales on air tickets, and special red envelope covers will be given away at check-in. Passengers will have the opportunity to experience calligraphy at some Air China check-in counters and lounge areas. Send blessings and taste traditional Chinese folk culture such as Lantern Festival; in the cabin, passengers have the opportunity to taste Spring Festival-themed dumplings, glutinous rice balls and Air China’s exclusive Chinese pastries, accompanied by a variety of Spring Festival-themed in-flight service supplies...
Volunteer service also protects the Spring Festival transportation. During the Spring Festival this year, Guangdong Communications Group launched volunteer service activities on all highway sections. Over 8,000 kilometers of highways, more than 380 service areas, 76 passenger stations, 203 gas stations and other service windows simultaneously kicked off the Spring Festival volunteer services. More than 10,000 "red vests" are active on highways, service areas, passenger stations and other places in 21 cities in Guangdong Province, striving to create a "safe Spring Festival, smooth Spring Festival, and heart-warming Spring Festival". (People’s Daily Overseas Edition intern Yang Jiaxi also contributed to this article)