Spring Festival train tickets sales start in China (Photo : Getty Images)
The Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China. The New Year will be on Jan. 28 and droves of Chinese across the country will be reuniting with their families.
The migration of people will be the largest in the world, with an anticipated 3 billion trips to me made. This occurrence is called the "Chunyun," which started on Jan. 17 and will last until Feb. 7.
According to the State Council, "Nearly 3 billion trips are expected to be made by Chinese people during the Spring Festival travel rush in 2017, the Ministry of Transport said on Dec 1."
The council added, "The number, which includes trips by road, rail, aviation and waterways, is 2.2 percent higher than the previous year."
The largest number of travelers will be transporting by road and will be using their own vehicles. Second to road travel, people will be going via train.
In one minute, about 60 percent of train tickets were already sold out. The most sought-after destinations are Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.
The State Council also said that the migration grows in number every year due to the fast growth of the middle class. The stress on the transport system increases with the influx of travelers.
Their website stated: "Chinese people have never been more affluent and keen to travel, nor have there ever been more migrant workers in cities far from home. Every year, stress on the transport system becomes greater and greater, despite great improvements in infrastructure over the last few years."
Seventy percent of tickets are bought online and 60 percent of these purchases were done through mobile phone apps.
