Train tickets for China’s Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, sold out within minutes on Monday as travelers rushed to secure journeys home for next month’s Lunar New Year reunions.
According to China’s railway operator, this year’s chunyun period will run from February 13 to March 13, with an estimated 539 million passenger trips expected nationwide.
The peak travel days are forecast to be February 13, the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, for outbound journeys, and February 23, the seventh day of the first lunar month, for return trips.
To meet the surge in demand, railway authorities said more than 14,000 passenger trains will operate daily during peak periods, representing a 5.3 percent increase in capacity.
Tickets for high-speed rail services departing from Hong Kong West Kowloon Station went on sale at 8 am, with all seats for trains to Nanchang on February 2 sold out by 10 am.
Meanwhile, popular routes to Shanghai Hongqiao, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou showed only “waitlist” availability for most departures.
Tickets from Guangzhou and Shenzhen to destinations including Guiyang, Chongqing, and Chengdu were also snapped up quickly, with many selling out within five minutes.
To better manage fluctuating demand, railway authorities said a dynamic ticketing system will reallocate seats from long-distance services to shorter, high-demand segments when necessary.
A new 30-minute free refund window has also been introduced. Passengers who book tickets for February 2 or later via the official 12306 platform — including cross-border services to and from Hong Kong — can cancel their tickets free of charge within 30 minutes of payment if an error is made.
For travelers such as Wu, the new policy offers welcome flexibility.
“Last time I planned to go home on a Saturday, but I accidentally bought a ticket for Friday,” she said. “This new rule is very considerate.”
