Prelude to China’s Chunyun begins tomorrow

China Railway has recently published the pre-sales timetable for train tickets for this year’s Spring Festival Travel Rush, also known as Chunyun in Chinese. Starting from Thursday, people can book train tickets for Jan. 24, 2016 via internet or telephone calls.

This year’s Spring Festival travel period lasts 40 days, from Jan. 24, 2016 to March 3, 2016.

Last year, 295 million people travelled by train during the Spring Festival holiday rush in China, according to the Ministry of Transport.

This year, as internet ticket booking system in China is becoming more user-friendly and more trains will run during the travel period, demand for online tickets will be even greater, some experts estimate.

To cope with the “massive migration” flood in China, China Railway plans to run 3,488 pairs of trains daily during the travel rush, including 440 extra trains, 14.5 percent more than last year.

Beginning from Jan. 10, 2016, China will implement a new national railway diagram, according to China Railway. The total number of passenger trains across China will reach 6,284 (3142 pairs), 60 percent of them being high-speed trains.