The 2026 national railway summer transport period officially concluded on August 31. Data released on September 1 from China Railway Chengdu Group's Chengdu Station revealed that passenger traffic remained at peak levels throughout the season, with the station handling a cumulative total of 45.877 million passenger movements and an average of 740,000 daily passenger movements.
This included 22.888 million departures and 22.989 million arrivals. A convergence of family visits, tourism, and student travel created sustained travel demand across the entire period. Looking at the distribution across key hub stations, all three major railway stations in Chengdu experienced elevated passenger volumes. Chengdu East Station recorded 14.663 million departures and 14.657 million arrivals, averaging 473,000 passenger movements per day. Chengdu South Station and Chengdu West Station also maintained high traffic levels throughout the summer.
According to comprehensive passenger flow data from Chengdu East Station's waiting halls, this year's summer rail transport displayed distinct characteristics: a steady start in the early phase, high-volume operations in the middle phase, concentrated return travel in the later phase, and clear peaks on weekends. Passenger flow patterns were clearly segmented by destination. Inter-provincial travel primarily targeted cities rich in cultural tourism resources and strong economic ties, including Xi'an, Kunming, Guiyang, Beijing, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta. Within Sichuan Province, passenger flows were heavily concentrated toward summer retreat and wellness destinations in the Panxi and Western Sichuan regions. Short-haul周边游 and weekend micro-vacations became the dominant travel modes, with intra-provincial short-distance trips accounting for as high as 82.7 percent of total traffic.
Strong demand for summer heat-escape travel has caused passenger volumes on Sichuan's short-haul cultural tourism routes to surge dramatically. As the key transport artery leading to popular summer retreats like Qingcheng Mountain and Dujiangyan, the Chengdu-Dujiangyan Railway transported 2.936 million passengers during the summer period, averaging 47,000 daily departures. Among its stations, Qingchengshan Station handled 337,000 departures, Lidui Park Station 519,000, and Dujiangyan Station 440,000. Weekend train occupancy rates remained stable at over 90 percent, clearly demonstrating the strong characteristics of heat-escape travel demand.
At the same time, key cultural tourism rail corridors within the province continued to perform strongly. The Sichuan-Qinghai Railway, connecting Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong scenic areas, operated an average of 58 passenger trains daily. The newly operational Chengdu-Kunming Railway, linking the Panxi wellness region, operated an average of 48 daily trains. These routes efficiently connect high-quality cultural tourism resources across Sichuan, effectively stimulating the summer retreat and wellness economies of Western Sichuan and Panxi, while supporting the growth of local cultural tourism industries.
Meanwhile, the air-rail intermodal travel model continued to gain momentum, establishing efficient channels for cross-provincial travel and transfer journeys, with both airport stations showing impressive passenger figures. During the summer period, Tianfu Airport Station recorded 479,000 departures and 532,000 arrivals, averaging 16,000 daily passenger movements. Shuangliu Airport Station handled 397,000 departures and 418,000 arrivals, averaging 13,000 daily passenger movements. To accommodate the travel needs of transferring passengers, train frequencies were increased, with Tianfu Airport Station operating an average of 67 daily passenger trains and Shuangliu Airport Station running 52 daily trains, significantly enhancing travel efficiency for cross-provincial summer trips and air-rail transfers.
Family trips and student return journeys were the core travel scenarios at Tianfu Airport Station during this summer transport period. The extended summer holiday fully activated family travel demand, with the station selling a cumulative total of 8.588 million children's tickets. Family and parent-child travel remained consistent throughout the entire summer period. Simultaneously, student passenger flow surged during the summer, with the station dispatching a total of 1.802 million student passengers, a year-on-year increase of 27.3 percent, precisely meeting the essential travel needs of students returning home and heading back to campus.
Facing the pressure of concentrated peak passenger flows and significant capacity demands at Chengdu East Station, the railway station strictly implemented a dynamic "one-day-one-schedule" adjustment mechanism to precisely optimize capacity allocation. Throughout the summer period, the station operated an average of 1,106 daily passenger trains, an increase of 38 trains per day compared to the 2025 summer season. Capacity was precisely focused on key destinations: inter-provincial services prioritized popular cities including Beijing, East China, South China, Xi'an, Kunming, Chongqing, Wuhan, Guiyang, and Nanning; while intra-provincial services covered high-frequency travel areas including Dazhou, Panxi, the Sichuan-Qinghai corridor, Chengdu-Mianyang-Leshan, and Chengdu-Yibin routes.
The innovative nighttime travel model emerged as the biggest highlight of Chengdu's 2026 summer railway transport. The station precisely matched passenger demand for long-distance travel, optimized nighttime capacity arrangements, and actively promoted a new "travel by night, explore by day" travel model. Night sleeper trains operating on an "evening departure, morning arrival" basis were regularly scheduled to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Additionally, new nighttime high-speed train services were added to destinations including Kunming, Libo, and Lanzhou, with a cumulative total of 221 additional nighttime trains deployed during the summer period.
The 2026 summer railway transport period has now successfully concluded. As the school season, Mid-Autumn Festival, and National Day holiday approach in succession, railway travel demand is expected to continue rising. Railway authorities remind all passengers to closely monitor the official 12306 platform and station announcements for real-time train operation updates, plan travel itineraries in advance, and arrange ticket purchases and waiting times appropriately to avoid travel delays.