When you get off a train these days, you can expect a wait, while people faff around looking for their (expired) health code. But on this, the last day of the Chinese New Year holiday, considerable efforts have been made to alleviate the hassle.
The Yangtze River Delta railway network is expected to have seen 1.42 million passengers on its trains today, 6 February. For many, it’s back to work tomorrow.
As every year, hundreds of additional train services have been laid on in order to cope with the surge in passenger numbers, especially this evening.
But 2022 is a little different. With the threat of Omicron top of mind, railway authorities have been striving to improve passengers’ experience and offer a safe, orderly and warm travel environment.
To this end, Shanghai Railway Station has installed 35 “smart” epidemic prevention inspection gates at its exits, reports The Paper. The gates can facilitate passengers to quickly have their health and travel codes checked as they leave the station.
In the west of that great city, Shanghai Hongqiao Station has worked together with local public transport to prolong the operation of the Shanghai Metro and public bus network.
Elsewhere in the Yangtze River Delta, the three principal railway stations in Hangzhou have rolled out nucleic acid test (NAT) services. Hangzhou Railway station, Hangzhou East Railway Station and Hangzhou South Railway Station are making NAT sampling available to travellers around the clock.
Over in Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, Hefei South Railway Station has braced itself for the rush by ensuring that all station staff are on duty and all entry and exit gates are open.
And here in our very own Nanjing, authorities responsible for maintaining services between here and Hefei are countering the Omicron threat by ensuring that trains’ toilets, wash basins and handrails are disinfected every 2 hours. Or so they say.
But will it all be enough? From an epidemic standpoint, that we won’t know for a while. In terms of simply getting home, a raised eyebrow or two from anyone sitting on a train reading this about now shall be forgiven.
