Spring Festival Homecoming

HOMECOMING at Spring Festival has been a tradition of the Chinese people for thousands of years. Every year， the approach of Chinese Lunar New Year unleashes a tidal wave of railway transportation.

Lunar New Years Day this year falls on February 19. During the week that follows the Chinese people will enjoy family reunions and celebrate their most important festival with a dazzling array of folk cultural activities. Worldwide， wherever Chinese people live， colorful Spring Festival celebrations will take place.

In anticipation of the nations favorite holiday， Chinas railway sector is gearing up to ensure full transport capacity and safety. This year， the annual nationwide Spring Festival travel rush will be from February 4 to March 15. Sixty-day advance bookings are available for this transport peak through the Internet or by telephone. During the travel rush， 226.5 pairs of passenger trains will be added， escalating the total number of passenger trains operating in China to 2673.5 pairs， of which 1556.5 pairs are CRH trains reaching 28 provinces， municipalities and autonomous regions. The year 2015 marks the first time the provinces of Gansu， Guizhou， and Qinghai， as well as Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， run CRH trains.

In fact， at the end of 2014， four high-speed railway lines successively went into operation. That from Hangzhou to Changsha takes just four hours to travel a distance of 931 kilo- meters. The line from Guiyang， Guizhou Province， to Guangzhou， capital of Guangdong Province， and that from Nanning in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region which passes through the famous tourist destination of Guilin to Guangzhou， constitute the arterial lines that connect Southwest Chinas mountainous areas to Southeast Chinas coastal region. They shorten the travel time respectively from the previous 20 hours to four hours and from 13 hours to three hours. The line from Lanzhou， capital of Gansu Province， to Urumqi， capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region， is the longest high-speed line in the world and the first high-speed train in Chinas northwest. It has a total length of 1，777 km， and cuts the travel time to less than 12 hours. As Chinas key project in the Western Development Campaign， this long， high-speed line greatly promotes the railway transport capacity of the Eurasian Continental Bridge. It is also of great significance in enhancing construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt.

More and faster CRH trains have been added to existing high-speed railway lines. To ensure sufficient transport capacity， eight pairs of high-speed sleeper trains will be added on the railway line from Beijing to Guangzhou/Shenzhen， and to the line from Shanghai to Guangzhou/Shenzhen. They will depart in the evening and arrive at their destinations the next morning， so giving passengers a more comfortable travel experience.endprint