China's rail network expects 12.9 million passenger trips on 5th day of Spring Festival travel rush

China's railway network is expected to handle 12.9 million passenger trips, with an additional 1,209 passenger train trips scheduled, on Friday, the fifth day of the Spring Festival travel rush, according to data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway).

While managing to enlarge the transportation capacity, railway administration authorities across China have enhanced passenger services at main hubs, including deploying extra intelligent security check equipment to enhance efficiency.

Chinese railways handled 11.759 million passenger trips on Thursday, according to China Railway data.

Transport crossing the Qiongzhou Strait in south China was temporarily suspended due to heavy fog Friday morning.

Competent local authorities put 53 vessels on standby in coordination and maximized the use of port channels, so as to ensure swift transportation of passengers and vehicles once shipping operations can be resumed.

Connecting south China's island province of Hainan with Guangdong Province, the Qiongzhou Strait is handling the first Spring Festival travel rush since the launch of island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) on December 18, 2025.

The strait is expected to see the crossing of more than 4.66 million passengers and over 1.17 million vehicles during the current Spring Festival travel rush, representing year-on-year increases of 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively, according to the Ministry of Transport.

China's civil aviation sector is estimated to handle 2.4 million passenger trips on Friday.

This year's Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, runs from Feb. 2 to March 13. Official estimates indicate that inter-regional passenger trips during the period are projected to reach 9.5 billion, a record high.

China's rail network expects 12.9 million passenger trips on 5th day of Spring Festival travel rush

The eurozone composite purchasing managers' index (PMI) -- a key indicator of business activity -- fell to 47.5 in May, the lowest level in 31 months, according to data released in an S and P Global report on Thursday.

The report said that increased cost pressures have led to a contraction in business activities in the eurozone.

The service sector, a key pillar of the economy, took a heavy hit, with its PMI plunging to 46.4, a 63-month low.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing PMI stood at 51.4, suggesting the pace of expansion slowed to its weakest since January.

The report quoted Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S and P Global Market Intelligence, as saying that the preliminary PMI data for May showed the war in the Middle East has been weighing increasingly heavily on the eurozone economy.

The eurozone economy is expected to contract by 0.2 percent in the second quarter, while inflation could approach 4 percent in the coming months, according to Williamson.

Eurozone composite PMI falls to lowest level in 31 months