China optimizes national rail timetable on Sunday, adding more passenger and freight trains

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By Ma Jingjing, Chu Daye (Global Times) 10:29, January 06, 2025

More passenger trains are being added, many of which are tourism routes - for example, the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway - which will meet a surge in the Spring Festival travel rush and growing inbound tourism thanks to the visa-free policy extension for short-term visits to China, Sun said.

The Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun, is set to break records this year, with an estimated 9 billion trips to be made across the country during the 40-day period from January 14 to February 22, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. The number of passenger trips by rail is expected to surpass 510 million, reflecting an increase over 2024 levels.

The annual Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing in early December pointed out that the forging of a unified national market shall be accelerated, and efforts will be made to break down local protectionism and market segmentation, while logistics costs should be effectively lowered, it said.

"The optimization of freight trains is also in line with the spirit of the tone-setting meeting to reduce the country's logistics costs and better support economic development," Sun said.