After a record-breaking Spring Festival, when about 157 million people tested the nation's creaking rail network to the limit, the mainland's railway authorities are gearing up for next month's holidaymakers during the annual 'golden week' vacation.
China's national holidays place an extraordinary strain on the rail system, but bursting carriages, congested tracks and cancelled freight trains are a year-round problem. After years of relative under-investment, the government has decided to do what it does best: spend on infrastructure.
At 80,000km, China has the third- longest rail network in the world after the US and Russia, but traffic density is four times higher than in the US and one-third higher than in Russia. China operates the busiest railways in the world, handling 25 per cent of the world's rail traffic on just 6 per cent of the world's total track length.
Rising demand for raw materials and other commodities, together with improved economic links between regions and a more fluid labour market, have added hugely to the pressure on the rail system in recent years.
Although freight trains remain the chief means of moving bulk commodities around the country, overcrowding means that China's railways meet only an estimated 35 per cent of freight demand. In 1978, rail accounted for 54 per cent of total freight traffic. By 2005, it had dropped to 26 per cent.
Poor interconnections and crowded freight wagons mean it can take 10 days or more to transport freight the 2,000km between Chongqing and Shanghai. Few manufactured goods go by rail because raw materials and passengers take priority.