China’s railway travel surges as Dragon Boat Festival holiday begins

By Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan June 20, 2026 1 min read

Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.

(240930) -- ZHENGZHOU, Sept. 30, 2024 (Xinhua) -- An aerial drone photo shows a bullet train running on a bridge in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, May 30, 2024. Strategically positioned in central part of the country, Henan has been serving as a national hub of transporation for ages. The past decades saw the province building a modern transportation network consisting air flights, railways, highways, water channels and all sorts of ports. It is now rapidly extending its role to areas of cross-border logistics, investment, and trade to facilitate the dual circulation of domestic and international markets. (Xinhua/Li An)

A drone photo taken on June 18, 2026 shows people competing in a dragon boat race in the sea areas of Tailu Town of Lianjiang County, Fuzhou of southeast China’s Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Zhou Yi)

– China’s railway network is expected to handle 19.73 million passenger trips on Friday, the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, according to the national railway operator.

To meet the travel surge, a total of 1,028 additional trains have been scheduled, said the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

Some of the top travel destinations on Friday include the Chinese cities of Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Shanghai, among others, the railway company said, adding that railway authorities nationwide are introducing cultural activities to foster festive vibes and further improve the passengers’ experience.

As of 8 a.m. Friday, a total of 51.59 million train tickets for the holiday travel period had been sold via the official ticketing platform 12306, the railway company said.

The Dragon Boat Festival, also known as the Duanwu Festival, falls on Friday this year, and the public holiday runs from Friday to Sunday.

Reference Link:- https://english.news.cn/20260619/87faa2e5fa604bdaa041d1e75d22da5a/c.html

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Tags #China #China Railway #Dragon Boat Festival #Festival #Holidays #Rush of Travellers #Tourism

Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan Founder & Chair, Global Silk Route Research Alliance

Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…

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