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January 14, 2017

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Busy start to festival travel rush

THE city’s three railway stations saw off an estimated 310,000 passengers yesterday, the first day of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, compared with 300,000 last year.

More than half, or about 170,000, left from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, 90,000 from Shanghai Railway Station and 50,000 from Shanghai South Railway Station.

This is also the earliest Spring Festival travel rush over the past five years. The city has added 34 extra train services to meet the surge in demand.

Nationwide, officials expect that Chinese travelers will make almost 3 billion trips during the holiday travel rush that runs through February 21. These trips include intercity flights, trains and local bus rides to villages.

Each year, travel rush represents the world’s largest seasonal migration of people as families reunite for the most important traditional Spring Festival holiday, which begins on January 27.

This year sees the introduction of new technology in key areas to improve services and minimise inconvenience during the massive exodus.

On some high-speed trains, passengers will not have to wind their way to the dining car, but will be able to order from their seats using a mobile app and food will be delivered to them in their seats. The service covers 25 trains operated by the Shanghai Railway Bureau.

And the Shanghai Railway Station installed two turnstiles with face recognition technology, which will provide an easier and quicker alternative for passengers to board. But it did not say when the machines would come into operation.

The machines are capable of matching passengers’ facial structure with their ID photo.

Passengers only have to pause on their way through the turnstile after simply swiping their ID cards.




 

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