Passengers queue to board a high-speed train
Passengers queue to board a high-speed train at the Zhengzhou East railway station in Zhengzhou, on Oct 1. China's railways handled more than 25.2 million passenger trips that day, a single-day record, as the National Day holiday got under way. CN-STR / AFP via Getty Images

BEIJING, Oct 6 – China's National Day holiday is putting the country's transport network under heavy load, with record rail traffic, surging electric vehicle (EV) road trips and rising cross-border travel, according to figures cited by Xinhua news agency.

The Ministry of Transport said cross-regional passenger trips topped 300 million on each of the first three days of the Oct 1-7 break. China Railway reported more than 25.2 million rail trips on Oct 1 alone, a single-day record.

Network expansion

The traffic runs on infrastructure that had passed 6 million km by the end of 2025 and includes the world's biggest high-speed rail system. The build-out continues: four high-speed rail sections totalling more than 1,100 km opened on Sept 28 across the north, northwest, centre and northeast.

One of them, the Xi'an-Ankang line in Shaanxi, has cut the Ankang-Yan'an journey from over seven hours to just over two, Xinhua said.

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EVs drive charging demand

The Ministry of Transport expects EV trips on expressways to reach 1.8 times normal levels over the holiday, lifting demand for charging. China has more than 24 million charging facilities, the world's largest network, of which about 89,000 sit in highway service areas, covering virtually all of them.

Operators have added mobile emergency chargers at key stops and are asking drivers to unplug at 80 per cent charge to speed up turnover.

Longer, wider trips

Easier connections are encouraging multi-stop itineraries. Online travel platform Qunar said nearly 30 per cent of travellers booked hotels in at least two cities, while bookings spanning four or more cities jumped 53 per cent from a year earlier. Its data also showed hotel bookings for multi-country trips more than doubled.

Chinese carriers now fly scheduled international passenger services linking 177 cities in 80 countries. Inbound tourism also grew at a double-digit pace, according to Trip.com Group, with day-tour bookings rising more than fourfold and train ticket bookings up over 170 per cent from a year earlier during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day periods.

Freight keeps moving

Cargo is also benefiting. The 134.2-km Pinglu Canal, which links Hengzhou in Guangxi with the Beibu Gulf, opened to navigation on Sept 16, giving southwest China a shorter river-sea route to export markets. Nanning Port is now handling about 20,000 more tonnes of cargo a day on the route, mainly construction materials, auto parts and grain.

Nanning Port Development and Investment Co deputy production manager You Tong said the port expects to move 200,000 tonnes over the holiday, with round-the-clock staffing to cope with the surge.