Shanghai to see record train passengers for Spring Festival

Shanghai is expected to handle some 42.37 million passenger trips during the upcoming Spring Festival travel rush that starts on Jan 26 lasting until March 5, while people traveling by railway will reach record high, according to data from the municipal government's Spring Festival transport office.

Amount of passenger traveling from or to Shanghai during the 40-day rush period is projected to grow 49 percent year-on-year, and a slight 5 percent under that of 2019, the office announced on Friday.

A record high amount of passengers will take the train via Shanghai during the peak travelling season of the year as people working away from their hometown are about to head home for the Chinese traditional reunion. The passenger volume is believed to see a 47 percent growth from the same period of last year, and up 13 percent in comparison with that of 2019, according to Xu Wei, an official from the Shanghai Municipal Road Transport Administrative Bureau.

"In response to this year's situation, we have arranged contingency plans including raising capacity to deal with the high amount of passenger flow," said Xu.

The office also forecast that there will be a 55 percent growth in air travel during the 40-day period, 6 percent less than 2019.