5.9m people take trains on 1st day of holiday rush
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, June 23, 2012
China's Ministry of Railways said Saturday that 5.9 million people traveled on trains on Thursday, the first day of the four-day travel rush for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
|
|
| Passengers walks out of the Xi'an Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, June 22, 2012. A total of 770,000 passenger trips are expected for Xi'an Railway Bureau during the three-day holdiay of Dragon Boat Festival this year, which lasts from Friday to Sunday. [Xinhua] |
![Passengers walks out of the Xi'an Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, June 22, 2012. A total of 770,000 passenger trips are expected for Xi'an Railway Bureau during the three-day holdiay of Dragon Boat Festival this year, which lasts from Friday to Sunday. [Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120623/000cf1bdc9db114fbb2137.jpg "Passengers walks out of the Xi'an Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, June 22, 2012. A total of 770,000 passenger trips are expected for Xi'an Railway Bureau during the three-day holdiay of Dragon Boat Festival this year, which lasts from Friday to Sunday. [Xinhua]")
The figure marked a jump of nearly 1 million passengers from Wednesday, and 298,000 passengers, or a 5.3-percent increase, from last year, the ministry said.
Passenger volumes of Jinan Railway Bureau and Qinghai-Tibet Railway Co. increased the most, up 23.8 percent and 17.4 percent, respectively, from the same period last year.
Shanghai Railway Bureau saw the biggest volume of passengers, as trains under its control carried 1.1 million travellers on the day.
Tourist cities Beijing, Tianjin and Wuhan all saw high rail-traffic volumes.
To cope with the travel rush, the ministry added 196 provisional passenger trains on Thursday, one day ahead of the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
The Dragon Boat Festival, also called Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar.
The festival commemorates the famous ancient Chinese poet Qu Yuan. Chinese people prepare and eat zongzi, or leaf-packed glutinous rice dumplings, drink wine and race dragon boats on the day.
The festival falls on June 23 this year.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)