Spring Festival travel season: A Long Journey Home--English--People's Daily Online

China Style: World's largest annual migration kicks off

The 40-day Spring Festival travel rush which lasts from Jan. 26 to March 6 started on Saturday. The Spring Festival, the most important traditional Chinese holiday, will fall on Feb. 10 this year. In tradition, Chinese return home for family reunions during the Spring Festival holiday. This has led to massive seasonal travel rushes in recent years as lots of Chinese leave hometown to seek work elsewhere.

Transport authorities takes actions to smooth the travel rushRead More

Policemen are on patrol to secure railway's safety in Chongqing North Railway Station on Jan 26, 2013.

Chinese-style home return
Railway:shortage alleviated but still not satisfactory
Automobiles: 1 million scheduled buses daily
Passenger ships: easy to get tickets
Airplanes: avoiding fight delays
Self-driving cars: the importance of guaranteed gridlock-free roads

Why railway doesn't sell discounted standing tickets
The approach of the Spring Festival travel rush reignites a public debate on the price of standing ticket on the train.
For years, the train's standing ticket and seat ticket are sold at same price in China. Some criticisms say that the passengers without seats on the train actually don't enjoy the same services offered to those who bought the seat tickets.
Wang is the expert on tunnel and underground engineering in China. He said:"Ministry of Railways had already explained that the discount on standing tickets would make trains overloaded, causing danger."
From the perspective of transport safety, the railway authorities set limits on the number of standing tickets.

The Vioce of Travellers Read More

Migrant workers not returning home for Spring Festival
Migrant workers complaint it is hard to buy train tickets and they have great difficulty in buying tickets, becuase they don't know how to operate on the internet.

Netizens call for cheaper 'no-seat' train tickets
A majority of people said the ministry should not charge passengers without seats the same price as those with seats.Netizens are calling for lowering the cost of train tickets that do not offer a seat, but railway authorities say the price is already at rock bottom.
Xu, 21,a college student from Tianjin University of Science and Technology, said it is unfair to charge full price for a train ticket for a no-seat ticket and that she would not buy one.
Yu Hui, 25, who works at a newspaper in Beijing, decided not to return to his hometown this year because of the difficulty of buying a train ticket. Yu said she could accept paying full price for a ticket with no seat. "But if the ticket with no seat had at least some sort of discount, I would feel better,"

A standing journey: is all about going back home

A girl falls asleep in arms of her father on the train heading to Chongqing.