AS the unleashed pent-up travel demand has brought back a Spring Festival travel rush unseen for three years, China’s transport sectors are making all-out efforts to ensure smooth and safe journeys amid optimized COVID-19 response.

The total number of passenger trips for the year’s travel rush is expected to reach 2.1 billion, almost twice as much as last year or 70.3% of the 2019 reading, according to the Ministry of Transport. The growing travel demand is a result of China’s recent downgrading of COVID-19 management from Class A to Class B. Travelers now no longer need to present health codes and negative nucleic acid test results or undergo temperature checks when entering railway stations and airports.

“This year’s Spring Festival travel rush will be the most challenging in recent years, with a surge in both passenger flows and virus infections,” Vice Minister of Transport Xu Chengguang said.

The journeys home are also simpler now for those returning from abroad — according to the adjusted rules, the country has scrapped restrictions on international passenger flights, increased the number of flights in stages, and optimized the distribution of routes since Jan. 8.

Chen Xia, a native of Fuqing, East China’s Fujian Province, has lived in Japan for more than a decade. Over the past three years, COVID-19 has disrupted her annual plan to return to Fuqing for the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Thanks to the timely adjustments of inbound travel rules, Chen and her husband have booked a flight home Jan. 16. “Only back in China can you get an authentic taste of the Spring Festival,” said Chen.

Facing the rising passenger flows, China’s railway and aviation operators have planned ahead to boost transportation efficiency.

China State Railway Group Co. Ltd. said that a peak day before this year’s Spring Festival will see as many as 6,077 train lines in service.

“We will give full play to our high-speed railway network amid the travel rush, and ratchet up the transportation capacity in key areas and at peak hours,” said Huang Xin, head of the company’s passenger transport department.

To meet the growing demand for air travel, Wan Xiangdong, chief pilot of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said the country will increase the average daily number of flights to 11,000 during the travel rush, equivalent to 73% of the level in the same period in 2019.

Domestic airlines are also encouraged to add more flights on popular routes, Wan said.

China has taken measures against risks from COVID-19 infections, adverse weather events, and dysfunctions of transport facilities, to ensure safe and sound Spring Festival transport.

While promoting paperless, contactless services such as online ticket selling and self-service ticket checking, transport operators nationwide are intensifying ventilation and disinfection at railway stations, expressway tollgates, and other public transport venues to minimize infection risks.

Ensuring transportation safety has become a concern. Operators across the country have doubled their efforts in facility maintenance, equipment overhaul, and staff training. (Xinhua)