China’s passenger volume is expected to fall by more than 60 percent on a yearly basis during the upcoming May Day holidays, an official from Ministry of Transport (MOT) said on Thursday, as the recent outbreaks of coronavirus cases in multiple cities impact public appetite for long distance travel. 

Passenger volume is expected to reach 100 million trips during this year’s holiday, down by about 62 percent compared with same period last year, Zhou Min, an official from the MOT, said at a press conference on Thursday. 

The travel peak will fall on Saturday, first day of the holiday, with passenger volume reaching 22.5 million trips, down about 61 percent year-on-year, the official stated. 

Both rail and air trips are expected to drop this year as a result of the coronavirus restrictions, industrial data showed. 

China’s civil aviation regulator on Thursday forecast that the total number of passenger trips during the upcoming May Day holidays will be around two million, with daily trips at around 400,000, a decline of 77 percent compared to the same period last year.

The country’s railway travel volume is also expected to be sluggish during the holiday. The transport peak kicked off on Thursday, with a total of about 32 million rail passenger trips expected to be completed from Thursday through to May 5, a relatively low passenger volume, according to a document sent by the China Railway to the Global Times. 

In comparison, about 117 million trips were made through the domestic railway system during last year’s eight-day May Day holidays, China Railway data showed. 

This year, China Railway has made preparations to meet passengers’ travel needs given the special circumstances of Omicron outbreaks across a number of Chinese cities including Shanghai and Beijing by arranging rail capacity in a flexible way, it said. 

For example, China Railway will increase rail capacity with measures such as increasing the frequency of high-speed and normal speed trains, starting weekend and peak time railway operating plans at appropriate time for hot travel lines in low-risk areas. 

The company also established a fast-response mechanism and arranged a number of standby Electric Multiple Units in key areas in case of passenger flow situations. 

Besides measures taken to meet the demands of passengers, the company also took action to safeguard key materials’ transportation. For instance, the company said it would make good use of major freight transportation channels and busy railways lines to guarantee the smoothness of logistics and the stability of supply chains. 

It will give priority to the train arrangement, loading and unloading of key resources including personal protective equipment (PPE), crude oil and grain. It will also strengthen communication with local governments and major enterprises to understand their needs and ensure transport capacity supply, so that materials can be transported to them in a fast way. 

In terms of trains commuting between China and overseas countries, China Railway said it would improve the capability of cargo transit at railway port stations for international railway lines like China-Europe Railway Express. 

In the document, China Railway especially stated that it would continue to halt or decrease trains departing from coronavirus-affected regions, as well as adjust operating routes to bypass the high-risk areas. 
 
China reported 1,494 new confirmed locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Wednesday, of which 1,292 cases were reported in Shanghai, 56 in Northeast China’s Jilin Province, while 48 were in Beijing.

Global Times