Chinese travellers brace for more traffic chaos as holiday nears end
All forms of transport under strain as millions pack up and head back to work after ‘Golden Week’
Traffic is expected to peak again over the weekend as the extended National Day break draws to a close and millions of Chinese pack up and head back to work.
All forms of transport will be under strain as travellers take to the roads, railways and air. On Saturday alone, some 13.61 million train trips were expected to be made, the official Xinhua news agency reported. That was up from 12.36 million on Friday.
It has been a particularly busy “Golden Week” holiday on the railway network, beginning with a record 15.03 million trips made on the first day, October 1, the China Railway Corporation said on Saturday.
One of the world’s biggest human migrations has so far seen some 105 million train trips made since the holiday travel rush began on September 28.
On the roads, traffic controls have been in place to limit the number of vehicles using parts of the major expressways connecting Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau as well as from Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province to Ruili in southwestern Yunnan province, according to state media.