China's railway network handled 887 million passenger trips during the 62-day summer travel rush that ended on Saturday, beating expectations and hitting an all-time high.
The volume was up 6.7 percent year on year. A daily average of 14.31 million railway passenger trips was made between July 1 and Aug 31, according to data released by the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd., the country's railway operator.
Traditional travel hotspots such as the Yangtze River Delta region, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region recorded the highest passenger flows in the period.
China Railway Shanghai Group, which operates rail lines across the Yangtze River Delta, handled 174 million passenger trips, making up nearly one-fifth of the national total. Following closely was the Guangzhou Group, which saw 124 million passenger trips in the Greater Bay Area, Hainan, and Hunan provinces. The Beijing Group handled 76.554 million passengers in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, which covers the Chinese capital and its neighboring Hebei and Tianjin, saw a 7.8-percent annual increase in passenger volume during the period, with an average daily of 1.235 million trips. The peak was registered on August 24, with a record high passenger volume of over 1.5 million.
The top ten popular routes for summer travel include those from Guangzhou to Changsha, Xi'an to Chengdu, and Beijing to Shanghai, most of which are major metropolis and resort cities.
In addition, nearly 90 percent of passengers purchased tickets online.
China's railways handle record 887 mln passenger trips in summer travel rush
The 2024 World Robot Contest Finals, just concluded on Tuesday in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, has captivated visitors with exciting robot battles and groundbreaking technologies.
The event consists of two major competitions: Brain-Computer Interface or BCI Brain-controlled Robot Competition and Youth Robot Design Competition.
Running from Jan 16 to 21, the event covers more than 20 major events, 50 minor events and 100 competition groups, providing a broad competitive stage for robot enthusiasts around the world.
During the six-day event, incredible displays realized by BCI technology, like typing and communicating with mind, have also taken the spotlight at the fair.
BCI refers to a system allowing a person to control a computer or other electronic device using his or her brainwaves, without requiring any movement or verbal instruction.
At the competition site, young contestants, wearing portable devices on their heads, silently controlled line-following robots to complete challenge tasks by leveraging their brainwave signals.
Wu Qin, a referee of the competition, explained that the performance of contestants is determined by their level of concentration during the event, with the data being collected from within the human brain.
"The BCI device works kind of like a fitness tracker that monitors our heart rate and blood oxygen levels," Wu added.
Meanwhile, a display and experience area, showcasing various application scenarios of BCI, have attracted crowds of visitors.
"I just experienced the mood breathing light and visual typing. Both are quite advanced. I haven't come across similar things before. This competition let us learn about these novel devices, and it's great," said a visitor.
Robot competition wows public with advancing brain-computer interface technology