Photots by Liu Xudong
City authorities are anticipating a significant surge in holiday travelers during the upcoming National Day holiday, which lasts from Oct. 1 to 7.
The railway travel rush commenced yesterday, and the railway authority anticipates 6.4 million passenger trips during the 10-day period leading up to Oct. 8. High-speed trains will operate overnight today and Oct. 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8. On Oct. 1, Shenzhen North Railway Station will operate 1,000 trains.
To facilitate passengers traveling at night, the operating hours of Metro lines 4, 5, and 6, which link to Shenzhen North Railway Station, will be extended. Today and tomorrow, the last trains to depart from the station on those three lines will not leave before 1 a.m. (the next day). On Oct. 6 and 7, they will not leave before 2 a.m. (the next day).
Customs checkpoints across the city are also bracing for a surge in travelers. Shenzhen's entry and exit authorities estimate that an average of 740,000 people will cross the border each day during the holiday, with the daily peak reaching 900,000. Peak travel is expected to occur Oct. 1, 5, and 6. Outbound travel will be at its highest between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., and inbound travel between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
During the holiday, an additional 16-26 ferry trips to Hong Kong and Macao will operate from the Shekou Cruise Home Port in Nanshan District.
Meanwhile, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) missile destroyer Shenzhen will be open to the public Oct. 1 and 2 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Reservations are required. The ship is on a five-day visit to the city and anchored at the Shekou Cruise Home Port.
The 6,000-metric-ton ship entered into service in 1999 and was chosen as the command ship of the South Sea Fleet. As a Type 051B destroyer, the Shenzhen was the largest and most advanced domestically produced warship in the PLA for about five years until the first Type 052B destroyer, the Guangzhou, was commissioned in 2004.