The number of high speed rail passengers in Changsha is expected to increase by 60 percent during the 2015 Spring Festival travel rush, compared with the same period last year.

The 40-day travel frenzy known as chunyun has already started on Wednesday, Feb 4, and will last until March 15.

It will be the first chunyun for Shanghai-Kunming high speed rail, an east-west rail partly opened in 2014, which criss-crosses Beijing-Guangzhou high speed rail in Central China city of Changsha. The newly formed high speed rail cross in Changsha brings great convenience for people travelling to and from the city. It makes the high speed train a top choice for most travelers.

It is estimated that the Changsha South Railway Station will receive 2.05 million passengers during the Spring Festival travel rush, a year-on-year growth of 60percent.

Meanwhile, the Changsha Railway Station, the station for regular trains, will see a drop in passenger numbers by 22.17 percent compared to the chunyun period in 2014, to 1.3 million.

By Zhang Qiong and edited by Mevlut Katik