On the 14th, the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush officially kicked off.

A record-breaking "world's largest population migration" with an estimated 9 billion people began to occur in China, and "mobile China" once again showed full vitality.

According to China's transportation department, during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, the cross-regional flow of people in the whole society will reach 9 billion, and the passenger volume of railway and civil aviation is expected to exceed 510 million and 90 million respectively, both setting record highs.

This year is the first Spring Festival travel rush after the successful application for the Spring Festival World Heritage, and it is also the Spring Festival travel rush that includes the 8-day Spring Festival holiday. "The demand for travel in relatives, tourism and other travel will be further stimulated, and the passenger flow during the Spring Festival travel rush will continue to grow based on the high base last year." said Yang Zhusong, associate researcher at the Institute of National Conditions at Tsinghua University.

■The railway department increases passenger capacity and releases

The high-speed rail with an operating mileage of 48,000 kilometers is the main force in the Spring Festival travel rush. During the Spring Festival travel rush, the railway department will increase the deployment of passenger transport capacity.

The railway department will make full use of new lines, new stations and new equipment to give full play to the advantages of high-speed rail network operation. Based on the train operation map in the first quarter, the Spring Festival train operation map will be implemented from 0:00 on January 14 to further increase the supply of passenger capacity, and add temporary passenger trains on popular routes and sections with concentrated passenger flow, and arrange night high-speed rails to be added between cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou to Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang, and Beijing to Shenyang, Taiyuan. The national railway will arrange more than 14,000 passenger trains per day, with an additional 500,000 seats per day, and the passenger capacity will increase by about 4% year-on-year.

On January 14, the children took the T9526 train from Urumqi Station to Hotan accompanied by railway staff. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Shuo)

■Civil aviation passenger transport volume is expected to hit a record high in the same period

The reporter learned from the Operation Monitoring Center of the Civil Aviation Administration of China that during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, the civil aviation passenger transport volume is expected to exceed 90 million. Civil aviation has increased the supply of capacity for popular airports and hot-spot routes, with an average daily flight schedule of about 18,500 flights.

The passenger flow of traditional popular routes between the four major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao and Chengdu-Chongqing is still very concentrated, and is the main channel for civil aviation to ensure the Spring Festival travel rush.

Go to the world of ice and snow, check in at intangible cultural heritage attractions, enjoy the sunny and sandy beaches by the sea... The popularity of many new "niche" routes opened by airlines is also increasing. Judging from the air ticket booking data, the number of passengers in the north such as "ice and snow tour" destinations such as Harbin, Changchun, and Urumqi in the south such as "cold tour" destinations such as Haikou and Sanya in the south will have a significant increase. At the same time, air ticket orders for "niche" destinations such as Jilin Yanji have also grown rapidly.

On January 14, at Beijing Daxing International Airport, passengers were bustling in the terminal. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li He)

■The number of travel of cross-regional self-drivers is expected to reach 7.2 billion

In the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush, self-drive travel will be the main position. It is expected that the number of travel of cross-regional self-drivers will reach 7.2 billion, and the daily peak of highway traffic may hit a record high.

On January 14, in Xiuying Port, Haikou City, Hainan Province, new energy vehicles lined up to enter the new energy vehicle special transport ship "Green Source 2" (drone photo). (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Guanyu)

How to ensure the public’s safe and smooth travel?

According to the 2025 National Spring Festival travel video conference held recently, relevant parties will strengthen road clearance and smooth traffic, provide passenger travel tips and guidance, improve the service quality of highway service areas, and strengthen the supply of charging facilities and equipment for new energy vehicles; strengthen bad weather forecasts and early warnings, pre-position rescue forces in advance, and make every effort to ensure the safe and orderly operation of the 2025 Spring Festival travel rush.

Train speeds, aircraft takeoffs and landings, traffic shuttles, and ships travel. On the first day of the Spring Festival travel rush, railway stations, airports and other densely populated places were very lively, and a large number of migrant workers, students and travelers visiting relatives embarked on a journey to return home.

Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency reporter report

Produced by Xinhua News Agency Audio and Video Department