China's transportation sector, especially the railways and roads, is facing a challenge from the surging number of student traveling, a new test added to that of transporting migrant workers.
As the new semester of most Chinese colleges and universities will begin on Feb. 9, the country's national railways sold 246,000 student tickets on Feb. 2 alone, surging 64.9 percent over the same day last year.
The Ministry of Railways forecast that more students will take trains after Feb. 5, and the Ministry of Communications said the coming weekend will see a flood tide of student transport in the road sector.
In recent years, as most Chinese institutions of higher learning take in more students, China's transportation sector is facing more pressure during the travel peaks.
China now has about 8.42 million students in colleges and universities, 1.23 million more than the previous year, hitting a year-on-year growth of 17 percent.
Some major Chinese cities with numerous high schools, such as Beijing,
Shanghai and Guangzhou, are facing more pressure in student transport. Over 500,000 students left
Beijing for home prior to the Chinese Lunar New Year, while the
GuangZhou railway station sent off 150,000 students home.
The Ministry of Railways issued a notice early this February, urging its 14 local railway bureaus to properly arrange transport capacity so as to ensure sound trips for all student passengers.
The ministry is also planning to run some special trains for students from some cities suffering more pressure in transport, such as Wuhan,
Chengdu and Changsha.
The Ministry of Communications said Wednesday that all of the local communications sectors have prepared to receive the student flood.
As the major group of migrant workers have moved back to cities, the national road transportation saw a reduction in passenger flow during these couple of days.
On Feb. 3 about 46 million journeys were made by road, 1 million fewer than the previous day. The ministry said with the reduction of migrant workers, student passengers will be the next challenge.
To solve the ticket pressure for most students, China's railway departments at all levels are taking efforts to improve the ticket service.
In Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China's Hebei province, the local railway sectors opened special student ticket services at all of its 13 ticket booking branches.
The local railway station transported 79,000 students back to school last year, but a local railway official said this year would see more students return to school from Shijiazhuang.
"Although we increased ticket windows for the students, more efforts should be made to release the increasing transportation pressure," said the railway official.
