On January 26, the 2024 Spring Festival kicked off. This is the first normalized Spring Festival transportation we ushered in after the smooth transition of epidemic prevention and control.
At about 5 o'clock in the morning, in the waiting room of Beijing West Railway Station, with the opening of the ticket inspection channel, the tired passengers on their faces were still in high spirits, and they picked up their bags, hurriedly passed through the turnstile, and walked all the way to platform 12 along the station signs, and they were greeted by the G6701 train that had been changed into "New Year's clothes", which was also the first high-speed rail train sent out in Beijing during the Spring Festival this year.
"This train has changed! The Harmony has been upgraded to the Fuxing, the car is new, the seats are spaced wider, and the seats are more comfortable. Mr. Li, a passenger, was pleasantly surprised to find that the small red lanterns hanging on both sides decorated the carriage with joy, and the window grilles with the word "Fu" and dragon patterns were embellished with a strong "New Year's flavor". The passengers put the words "Everything Prosperous" and "Safe Spring Festival" on their chests and pressed the shutter excitedly.
In order to meet the needs of passengers for Spring Festival travel, the G6701 train was reconnected from the original Harmony 380AL model to the Fuxing CR400AF model, and the capacity increased by 124 people compared with the original. Ma Jinye, the captain of the G6701 train, was dressed in red, and the attendants carried red gift boxes and colorful paper dragons, giving the passengers a heart-warming surprise. "Today is the first day of the 2024 Spring Festival, congratulations on receiving the New Year's gift prepared by our cabin crew!"
"I didn't expect to receive a gift, it's such a special experience!" Ms. Liu's joy was palpable. "I took a 'New Year's Eve scene', and I needed to enter the group to shoot during the Spring Festival, so I chose to go home early for an early year, and I took this bus to my hometown Shijiazhuang in 1 hour and 15 minutes. As a practitioner in the film and television industry, she deeply felt the obvious recovery of the entire industry this year, with a lot of work and a lot of busyness. In the new year, I hope that everyone in the family is healthy and safe.
On the K5207 train, the first general-speed train in Beijing during the Spring Festival in 2024, Liu Gang, who has been a takeaway brother in Beijing for 4 years, is also like an arrow. "I chose to take such an early car because I wanted to see my two children early, take them to buy new clothes for the New Year, and take them to a big meal, which makes me very happy to think about it. ”
The place where there is a family is the New Year, and in recent years, "reverse reunion" has also become popular. In the No. 3 waiting room of Beijing West Railway Station, an old woman carrying a large bag attracted the attention of reporters.
"My wife and I came to Beijing from Zhangjiakou to change trains, and went to Foshan, Guangdong Province to celebrate the New Year with our son and grandson, enjoy the flowers together, and have a reunion dinner. Li Meiling, 63 years old this year, told reporters that after retirement, she lived in Guangdong with her son and grandson for ten years, and she has never had the opportunity to meet again after returning to her hometown Zhangjiakou more than two years ago, and she is very worried.
"My grandson was brought up by me since I was a child, and he is 16 years old this year. He loves meat, and the box is filled with beef jerky, milk chips, and a lot of delicious food, all of which are specialties of our hometown. Li Meiling pointed to the box and smiled as she spoke.
On the road, time is changing, but what remains unchanged is people's expectation of reunion.
In 1954, the word "Spring Festival" appeared in the media for the first time. That year, the railway sent 23 million passengers, mainly soldiers, students and government officials.
Seventy years later, during the 40-day Spring Festival travel period from January 26 to March 5, the cross-regional movement of people across the country is expected to reach 9 billion, which is expected to hit a record high. According to data from the 2024 Comprehensive Transport Spring Festival Work Class, on January 26 (the first day of the Spring Festival, the sixteenth day of the lunar calendar), it is estimated that the cross-regional flow of people in the whole society will be 182.83 million.
In terms of railways, 480 million passengers will be sent during the Spring Festival in 2024, with a daily average of 12 million, an increase of 37.9% compared with the Spring Festival in 2023. On January 26, the first day of the Spring Festival, the national railway is expected to send 10.6 million passengers.
In the face of the substantial increase in passenger flow, strengthening the transportation capacity scheduling guarantee has become an important task for the railway department.
It is expected that about 12,700 passenger trains will be arranged every day before the festival and about 12,800 passenger trains will be arranged every day after the holiday, and the passenger capacity will increase by 14.4% and 12.6% respectively compared with the Spring Festival transportation in 2019. Some non-tense directions will increase preferential discounts, with a minimum discount of 2% for ordinary speed trains and a minimum discount of 3% for EMU trains. Qiang Lixia, director of the passenger marketing department of the passenger transport department of the China Railway Group, said.
Services are also being continuously upgraded to make it easier for passengers to travel.
Some stations have implemented the "Hand Warming Project" to provide passengers with warm and hot water for washing, the "Silent Carriage" service has been extended to 72 EMUs to improve the travel experience of passengers, and the Beijing Railway Aixin 036 waiting room of Beijing West Railway Station has been equipped with special wheelchairs and stretchers to provide special pick-up and drop-off services for special key passengers...... Railway departments in many places across the country have launched a series of service measures to facilitate and benefit the people.
"For this year's Spring Festival, we pioneered a baby air mattress for infant passengers, which can be supported on the seat and free parents' hands throughout the process. Ma Jinye told reporters that the second team of the high-speed rail of the Shijiazhuang passenger section has also increased the service of sending large luggage to the station for the elderly with more luggage and passengers traveling with children, and effectively reflected the warm service to the last kilometer of the passenger journey.
In addition to passenger services, the reporter also observed that this year's railway 12306 has launched a series of new functions for the Spring Festival, including train ticket sales reminder subscription and ticket purchase demand pre-filling, new student and migrant reservation area, upgrade standby function, etc., the experience of buying tickets is smoother.
"From today, the railway has entered the Spring Festival travel period, we recommend that passengers who have not yet bought a ticket use the standby function of 12306 to appropriately relax the boarding date, you can choose 3 different dates, up to 60 combinations of different trains and seats, if you choose to accept the new train, you can further improve the success rate. Shan Xinghua, deputy director of the Railway 12306 Science and Technology Innovation Center, said.
Reporter: Li Yuyou, Wang Lu
Photo: Pan Yue
Source: Economic Reference Network