Spring Festival Travel Season (also called Spring Rush or Chunyun) is a period of travel in China with extremely high traffic load around the time of the Chinese New Year. The period usually begins 15 days before Lunar New Year's Day and lasts for around 40 days. The number of passenger-journeys during the Travel Season period is projected to be hitting over 2.9 billion in 2016. It has been called the largest annual human migration in the world.
The Spring Festival Travel Season creates enormous pressure on China's transportation systems. Rail transport experiences the biggest challenge during the period, and myriad social problems have emerged. This phenomenon is also seen in parts of East Asia such as Taiwan, Vietnam and South Korea.
During the Spring Festival travel rush season in 2018, about 382 million people travelled by train. It is estimated that more than 400 million people will travel by train during the Chinese New Year Travel Rush in 2019. The Spring Rush in 2019 will be from January 21 to March 1, during which train and bus tickets will be in great demand.
It is a long-held tradition for most Chinese people to reunite with their families during Chinese New Year. People return home from work or study to have reunion dinner with their families on New Year's Eve.
When it comes to family reunion, a safe smooth journey is the top priority for thousands of Chinese families during the Spring Rush. In the past few months, Benewake assists the China Railway by improving inspection efficiency with the most advanced LiDAR technology.
Benewake TF03 is used as rail track inspection sensor during the train journey. Installed on each side of the train, TF03 can detect the high-risk obstacles in the selected range, such as tilted utility poles, broken branches, or construction rubbish. The location of the high-risk obstacle will be recorded and reported to the rail control center during the driving of the train. Then the further overhaul will be arranged by local railway companies.
Due to the similarity, it can also be installed on the subways or mining vehicles for obstacle inspection in a darkness condition underground. The IP67 enclosure enables TF03 to operate stably under humid and dusty conditions.