China's railways carried a record 3.32 billion passengers and launched 2,501 tourist trains
Travel is not only about moving through space but also about seeing the world in a new way. When a railway becomes not just transport but part of the experience, it opens doors to places and emotions that otherwise might remain unseen.
According to data published on Saturday by China State Railway Group, in the first eight months of 2026 China's railways carried a record 3.32 billion passengers, up 3.9% year-on-year. To meet growing demand for tourist travel, railway operators launched 2,501 dedicated tourist trains during the period, expanding routes for sightseeing and cultural heritage trips. The data showed that 1,387 of these services were special tourist trains, while 1,114 were regular tourist routes.
At Chaka Salt Lake in Qinghai Province, northwest China, a four-hour non-stop journey on the Y383 "Beautiful Heavenly Road" tourist train connects the provincial capital Xining and the town of Chaka, allowing travellers to admire the salt lake both by day and after nightfall. "The scenery is simply stunning, the trip is worth it. The sunset is breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it anywhere else," said Zhang Guilin, a tourist from Henan Province. The salt lake is often called the "Mirror of the Sky" because of the reflections on its surface. "When I saw the 'Mirror of the Sky', I felt I had truly entered a fairy-tale land," said Wang Caihong, a tourist from Gansu Province.
The Y383 route is one of several tourist routes developed by the China Railway Qinghai-Xizang Group in the region. "We have now developed six premium tourist routes, including Xining-Golmud-Dunhuang, the route from Xining to Xinjiang via the Golmud-Korla railway, and Xining-Qinghai Lake," said Ma Haisheng, head of the passenger and freight transport department at the Passenger Transport Department of the China Railway Qinghai-Xizang Group.
Railway operators are increasingly turning rail journeys into tourism products, combining regional excursions with multi-day tours to attract visitors to places beyond major transport hubs. Beijing's "Star of Yan Zhao" offers sightseeing routes across the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in the north. Meanwhile, two intercity tourist trains — the "Panda Train", departing from Chengdu in Sichuan Province in the southwest, and the "Yangtze River Delta Star", departing from Shanghai in the east — operate multi-day tours to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest. "Great Rivers of Henan", a tourist train brand from Henan Province in central China, offers changing cultural and intercity routes rather than a fixed itinerary.
Elsewhere, tourist trains linking regional destinations run regularly. "Qilu No. 1" connects Handan in Hebei Province in the north with Mount Tai in Shandong Province in the east. In Yunnan Province in the southwest, a train dedicated to folk culture links Kunming, Lijiang and Dali. Another route connects Urumqi and Altay in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in the northwest.
As reported by CCTV+, the record passenger flow and the growth in tourist trains indicate that China's railways are becoming not only a means of transport but also an important tool for developing domestic tourism, opening new opportunities for travellers and regions.
