1264756273078.jpg
The China Railway Corporation announced on Monday that 154.62 million train tickets for the 40-day travel period during the Spring Festival season had already been sold since they started selling those tickets on Dec. 23.
The Spring Festival or the Chinese Lunar New Year is the country's most celebrated traditional holiday. It is the most important holiday for family reunions, and millions of people across the country travel home for the festival, putting a strain on the country's transportation systems.
This year, the Spring Festival falls on Jan. 31, and the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush or simply "spring transportation" is expected to run from Jan. 16 to Feb. 24.
As of Sunday, an average of 3.54 million tickets per day had been sold through www.12306.cn, the corporation's official ticket-booking website. This figure shows a 57 percent increase year on year. Daily sales information shows that daily sales were the highest on Jan. 9 when sales reached 5.01 million tickets, greatly surpassing last year's highest daily sales of 3.64 million tickets, according to the corporation.
Train tickets can be purchased from major railway stations across the country round the clock, and to further facilitate the purchase of tickets, some 30,180 additional ticket sales outlets had also been opened in different parts of the country. According to the corporation, people who wish to purchase tickets also have the option to do so online or through the telephone.
People who plan to book train tickets may do so 25 days prior to their date of travel through telephone or via the Internet. Train stations and ticket sales agencies on the other hand sell tickets 23 days ahead.
