On the morning of January 19th, the reporter saw on the large screen of the 12306 railway monitoring center that the sales data of train tickets continued to rise, and everyone's enthusiasm for purchasing tickets was high. On that day, train tickets for the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush began to be sold. The 2026 Railway Spring Festival travel rush will start on February 2 and end on March 13, lasting for 40 days. The national railway is expected to send 539 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 5.0%. The peak passenger flow before the festival is expected to be on February 13 (the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month), and the peak passenger flow after the festival is expected to be on February 23 (the 7th day of the first lunar month). What are the new features of buying tickets during this year's Spring Festival travel rush? What new measures have been introduced by the railway department? The reporter visited the 12306 monitoring center on the first day of ticket sales during the Spring Festival travel rush. Analysis of the steady growth of passenger transportation during the Spring Festival travel rush in recent years shows that the number of passengers sent during the railway Spring Festival travel rush has been increasing year by year. It is expected that the number of passengers sent during the railway Spring Festival travel rush in 2026 will increase by 5% year-on-year. Everyone couldn't help but wonder, how was this increment calculated just one day after it went on sale? Increment is related to transportation capacity. ”Zhang Xia, a researcher at China Railway 12306 Technology Center, introduced that every year before the Spring Festival travel rush begins, the railway department begins to conduct various passenger flow surveys and predictive analysis to operate trains based on this. As is well known, although China's railway scale and strength have achieved global leadership, compared to the instantaneous high demand during the Spring Festival travel rush, railway transportation capacity is still relatively tight. The expected passenger flow data during the Spring Festival travel rush does not represent passenger demand, but rather transportation supply data, commonly known as "determining transportation capacity based on transportation capacity". If we look at it from a demand perspective, the actual number of people traveling during the Spring Festival travel rush should be greater than this number. In order to increase the transportation capacity during the peak period of Spring Festival travel rush every year, the railway department continuously increases its supply capacity and improves its dispatching level. Fully utilize the developed and improved high-speed rail network and modern railway network, especially make good use of the newly opened lines, stations, and a batch of newly put into use Fuxing high-speed trains in 2025. Based on the daily and weekend train operation plan in the first quarter of 2026, scientifically prepare the Spring Festival travel rush train operation plan, further arrange the opening of passenger trains, and allocate transportation capacity in stages according to passenger demand. It is expected that more than 14000 passenger trains can be arranged in a single day during peak passenger flow periods, with a year-on-year increase in passenger capacity of 5.3%. ”Introduction by the head of the Passenger Transport Department of China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. In response to the pre holiday passenger flow concentration areas such as Beijing, Guangzhou Shenzhen, Shanghai Nanjing Hangzhou, as well as post holiday passenger flow concentration areas such as Chengdu Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanchang, and popular directions such as Xi'an to Chengdu and Taiyuan, Dalian to Harbin, and Qingdao to Shanghai, the railway department has increased the investment in passenger transport capacity; Actively tap into transportation potential and open up night time high-speed trains on major high-speed railway trunk lines such as Beijing Guangzhou, Beijing Shanghai, Shanghai Kunming, and Beijing Harbin; Drive international passenger trains between China and Laos, China and Mongolia, China and Russia, and China and Vietnam to support cross-border tourism; Flexibly operate tourist trains according to market demand, serve diversified travel needs of passengers, and enrich the supply of holiday tourism products; Maintain the scale of regular speed passenger trains, operate public welfare "slow trains" and "rural revitalization" passenger trains well, and facilitate the travel of people along the line. This year's Spring Festival is relatively late and the holiday is long, resulting in a diversified demand for travel tickets during the holiday period. ”Yan Zhiyuan, Deputy Director of 12306 Technology Center, introduced that the 12306 technical team has developed a support plan earlier than previous years based on their work experience and the characteristics of this year's Spring Festival travel rush. Starting from January 19th, the 12306 railway platform has launched a limited time free ticket refund service for passengers who make a mistake in purchasing a train ticket for February 2nd or later. If a passenger makes a mistake in purchasing a train ticket through the 12306 railway platform, within 30 minutes of successful purchase and more than 4 hours before departure, the purchaser can self process the refund online without charging a refund fee. After the launch of the limited time free refund service for mistakenly purchased tickets, it will effectively avoid the loss of ticket money caused to passengers by mistakenly purchasing tickets, and better safeguard the rights and interests of passengers. ”The head of the Passenger Transport Department of China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. stated that in the next step, the railway department will closely monitor the implementation situation, carefully listen to the opinions and suggestions of passengers, continuously optimize the functions and services of the 12306 railway system, and ensure the safe, orderly and warm travel of passengers during the Spring Festival travel rush. This is a microcosm of the railway department's efforts to enhance passenger experience. Yan Zhiyuan introduced that during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, Railway 12306 will launch a series of convenient and beneficial service functions to better meet the needs of passengers for a better travel life. In terms of ticket purchasing services, firstly, for student travelers, we will add 2 one-way student discount tickets for the 2026 college graduates, which means they can enjoy 6 discounts this academic year, making it convenient for graduates to go to other places for job hunting; Secondly, targeting migrant workers, this year's Spring Festival travel rush will continue to launch a dedicated booking and ticket purchasing service for migrant workers. Based on work experience in 2025, we will scientifically analyze travel patterns, optimize system functions, and effectively ensure ticket purchasing and travel for key groups; Thirdly, targeting elderly passengers, the 12306 customer service center of the railway has added telephone ticket purchase acceptance services for people aged 60 and above. By dynamically adding customer service representatives, the response capability is improved, and timely answers and clarifications are provided to passengers. In terms of travel services, firstly, the scope of "silent carriage" services will be expanded. Starting from February 1st, it will be extended to "D" and "G" power dispersed multiple unit trains other than dynamic sleeper trains, with a total of over 8000 trains; The second is to expand the scope of the "snow equipment convenience travel" service. After the pilot project on the Beijing Zhangjiakou high-speed railway in December last year, the service will be expanded to some stations and trains in Northeast China from January 15th this year. Passengers can check the train number with the "snow" symbol on the 12306 platform, and after making a successful reservation, they can bring their snow equipment on board and store it in a designated location, realizing that people and snow equipment travel together with the train; The third is to expand the pilot scope of the "light loading" service. Starting from January 15th, 92 new stations will be added in cities such as Harbin, Changchun, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Xi'an, Nanchang, Nanning, Urumqi, and Lhasa, bringing the total number to 111, to reduce the burden of passengers carrying large luggage; Fourthly, we will continue to expand the scope of high-speed rail pet transportation services. Before the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, we will achieve business coverage in provincial capitals, municipalities directly under the central government, and some second - and third tier cities to better meet the needs of passengers traveling with pets. Intensify efforts to optimize services. During the Spring Festival travel rush, passengers have a strong desire to travel, and some popular areas and time periods may experience high concentration of passenger flow and prominent supply-demand contradictions. Some popular train tickets may quickly sell out. How to solve this problem? The railway department has increased efforts to ensure stable ticket sales. Yi Chao, Deputy Researcher at the Passenger Transport Intelligence Research Office of China Academy of Railway Sciences Group Co., Ltd., said that in order to further optimize ticketing services, the railway department has strengthened the 12306 ticketing system resources in advance, optimized system resource allocation, expanded network bandwidth, strengthened system monitoring and inspection, expanded the cloud service capability for remaining tickets, strengthened security risk prevention and control measures, and enhanced the ability to respond to large-scale concurrent access demands and network security protection; Organize technical backbone forces to be on duty, develop emergency plans for various unexpected situations, improve emergency response efficiency, and fully ensure the safe and stable operation of the system. Yi Chao stated that in order to maximize the satisfaction of passenger ticket purchasing and travel needs, the railway department will rely on 12306 big data to analyze changes in passenger demand in real time, implement more accurate ticketing strategies, dynamically adjust ticket amounts, and cater to the needs of both long-distance and short distance passengers. When the long-distance ticket quota is sufficient, a portion of the ticket quota will be automatically allocated to various stations along the way in different time periods. At the same time, additional passenger trains or night high-speed trains will be arranged in a timely manner in the direction of concentrated passenger flow to maximize the supply of transportation capacity. All newly added ticket quotas will be given priority to passengers who have submitted standby ticket orders. Is it reliable for some passengers to choose to purchase tickets through third-party platforms without buying tickets? Yan Zhiyuan explained that the 12306 platform of China Railway is the only official online ticketing platform for train tickets, and has never cooperated with any third-party platform organization. There are no additional charges such as ticket acceleration packages, ticket membership fees, or seat selection fees. When there are changes or refunds, they are strictly handled according to regulations, and the personal information security of passengers is strictly protected in accordance with the law. That is to say, there is no so-called exclusive ticketing channel on third-party platforms. It is recommended that passengers plan their itinerary as early as possible, make good use of functions such as checking the start time and reminding customers of the start time, and avoid delays that may affect ticket purchases. At the same time, make good use of the reserve ticket purchasing function of Railway 12306, and maximize the use of 60 "date+train number" ticket combinations. The more combinations selected, the higher the success rate of the reserve. In the case of sold out direct tickets, passengers can also purchase tickets for travel by using the optimal solution recommended by Railway 12306, such as same train connection or intermediate transfer; Students and migrant workers who meet the requirements can purchase tickets through the reserved ticketing service area opened by Railway 12306. Yi Chao introduced that in order to create a fair and just ticketing environment, the railway department has also taken various measures, such as identifying and recognizing abnormal visits, placing abnormal requests in slow queues, delaying processing, to prevent and curb malicious ticket brushing and other abnormal access behaviors, and to maximize the protection of passengers with genuine needs to buy tickets. (New Society)