Talking Travel: West Line 13 Closing for New Year, Holiday Travel Anomaly, New Flight Routes

Talking Travel: Your semi-regular roundup of Beijing's latest transportation-related news.

West half of Line 13 will close during the holiday

While Beijing's subway network will mostly be operating as usual during the Spring Festival, due to an ongoing construction project the west half of Line 13 (all stops from Xizhimen station to Huoying station) will be closed from Jan 22 until Jan 29.

The stoppage is unlikely to affect many commutes, but passengers who are departing from the newly opened Qinghe Railway Station, located along line 13, should note that alternate transportation may be necessary to reach the station. Additionally, Yonghegong station (Line 2/Line 5) will be closed until 5.30pm on Jan 25.

On the subject of closures, if you're looking for regular updates on the status of your favorite bar or restaurant over the break, click here.

Spring Festival travel trends may be reversing

Big cities like Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou often become ghost towns during the Chinese New Year as droves of urban dwellers flock to their hometowns to celebrate the new year. An interesting trend has been revealed by data from Trip.com and partners, showing that this phenomenon is beginning to reverse. This year, more people have arranged to pick up their family members and travel into the big city, thus avoiding the hassle of participating in the mass exodus to their hometowns.

READ: Why 春运 Means Much More Than the "World's Largest Human Migration"

If the trend continues, it could mean getting stuck in Beijing over the holiday might not be such a bummer in future years. However, the data also showed that Beijing remains the number one place for Spring Festival departures.

Business travel app myCWT comes to China

American-based travel app myCWT has announced that its services will soon be available for use by businesses in China. The app attempts to simplify business travel booking by allowing companies to set parameters for employee booking (no more trying to sneak a first-class seat past the boss) and to approve bookings within the app. Though CWT has been available for use online in China since 2012, the launch of the app means that it will join the growing ecosystem of mobile-friendly travel services in China.

New routes to London, Nice, and Warsaw

As of Jan 18, China Southern has begun a new Beijing Daxing to London Heathrow service, operating five times weekly. Meanwhile, Air China will resume its seasonal route to Nice, France from Mar 29 after a successful trial run last year from August to October. Finally, a daily route between Beijing and Warsaw began Jan 15, making it the ninth route to Poland operated by LOT Polish Airlines, and IndiGo is reportedly considering new routes that will connect Kolkata to both Beijing and Shanghai.

READ: Score Last-Minute Flight Deals With Trip.com's 'Explore the World' Function

Images: Wikipedia, kedo.gov.cn, The Telegraph, myCWT