A video package released by CCTV+ on 23 February 2026 details how China’s transport authorities coped with the massive return-to-work rush on the last day of the extended Spring Festival holiday. The railway network scheduled an extra 2,297 passenger services, pushing total daily capacity to an estimated 18.5 million seats. At Harbin depot, engineers employed a new constant-temperature water-spray system that halves the time needed to clear ice from high-speed trainsets, ensuring punctual departures despite blizzard conditions. While largely domestic, the operation had clear cross-border ramifications. With airports in Urumqi and Guangzhou handling heightened transit flows of foreign visitors departing after the festival, civil-aviation regulators issued temporary slot waivers to allow carriers such as Finnair and Cathay Pacific to delay departures until connecting passengers arrived from crowded rail hubs.
![China Adds Trains, Planes and High-Tech De-Icing to Manage 18.5 Million Trips on Holiday’s Final Day]()
For foreign passengers trying to synchronize tight post-holiday itineraries, VisaHQ can remove one major variable by expediting the China visa process online. The platform’s step-by-step application wizard, courier pick-up service and real-time tracking at https://www.visahq.com/china/ help ensure that travel documents are in hand well before trains, ferries and flights hit peak capacity, sparing travelers last-minute consulate runs during the busiest period of the year.
Highways, meanwhile, logged an estimated 66 million vehicle trips even as sections in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang closed intermittently for snow control. Maritime authorities reported 1.6 million ferry and coastal-cruise passengers and used real-time AIS data to stagger boarding at Zhuhai to prevent congestion at the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge checkpoint. For mobility planners, the day provided a stress-test of China’s ability to integrate multi-modal transport during peak periods. The success of the de-icing technology and dynamic traffic controls strengthens the case for China as a viable host of large-scale international events, where rapid post-event departures are critical. Companies moving project teams should nevertheless build buffer time into itineraries during national holidays, as weather-related ground closures can cascade into flight delays despite best efforts to boost capacity.
For foreign passengers trying to synchronize tight post-holiday itineraries, VisaHQ can remove one major variable by expediting the China visa process online. The platform’s step-by-step application wizard, courier pick-up service and real-time tracking at https://www.visahq.com/china/ help ensure that travel documents are in hand well before trains, ferries and flights hit peak capacity, sparing travelers last-minute consulate runs during the busiest period of the year.
Highways, meanwhile, logged an estimated 66 million vehicle trips even as sections in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang closed intermittently for snow control. Maritime authorities reported 1.6 million ferry and coastal-cruise passengers and used real-time AIS data to stagger boarding at Zhuhai to prevent congestion at the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge checkpoint. For mobility planners, the day provided a stress-test of China’s ability to integrate multi-modal transport during peak periods. The success of the de-icing technology and dynamic traffic controls strengthens the case for China as a viable host of large-scale international events, where rapid post-event departures are critical. Companies moving project teams should nevertheless build buffer time into itineraries during national holidays, as weather-related ground closures can cascade into flight delays despite best efforts to boost capacity.
