Changsha South Railway Station received 4.7 million tourists, the largest passenger flow in history, during the 40-day-long 2015 Spring Festival travel rush, which officially rounded off on March 16.

The peak single-day passenger flow at the station reached 156,000 during the travel rush, known as chunyun in Chinese. Both numbers doubled those of the same period last year.

To meet the growing passenger flow arising since the opening of the Shanghai- Huaihua section of the Shanghai-Kunming high speed rail, the station decided to waive parking fees at its three parking lots, greatly easing the previous traffic congestion.

According to Wu Pinghui, the head of the comprehensive management office of Changsha South Station, the daily average passenger flow of the station has dropped to 100,000 so far. It is estimated that, with the opening of the Changsha-Guiyang section of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed rail later this year, the daily average passenger flow in Changsha South Station will further rise to equal with that of during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Wu said that the office will strengthen its management to ensure the safe and orderly operation of the station. At present, the east square of the station is under construction and is expected to be put into use prior to the 2016 Spring Festival. It will add around 2,500 parking spaces to the station.