China was estimated to have handled more than 1.3 billion trips in the first week of its 40-day-long Spring Festival travel rush, with over 210 million trips made on Monday, the seventh day of the travel rush period.
The travel rush, also known as "Chunyun", is a period of high transportation demand coinciding with China's largest annual holiday, the Spring Festival, which is a time when hundreds of millions of people head home for family reunions and to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan 29 this year.
This massive migration, which began on Jan 14 and continues until Feb 22, is expected to see a staggering 9 billion passenger trips this year, with both rail and air passenger numbers set to hit record highs.
In terms of rail transport, China's railways were estimated to handle 13.45 million passenger trips on Monday, with 862 extra trains scheduled to meet the rising demand.
As passenger numbers rise ahead of the Spring Festival, China's railway authorities have focused on boosting capacity in high-demand areas, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou in southern China, as well as Chengdu and Chongqing in southwestern China.
Starting Monday, high-speed rail routes, including the Nanning-Guangzhou high-speed railway and Guiyang-Guangzhou high-speed railway, added 128 night trains, setting a new record for nightly services.
Meanwhile, road transportation saw an estimated 197 million passenger trips, while waterways recorded 700,000 trips and air travel hit 2.22 million, with 19,057 flights scheduled.

China estimated to handle over 1.3 bln trips in first week of Spring Festival travel rush

China estimated to handle over 1.3 bln trips in first week of Spring Festival travel rush

China estimated to handle over 1.3 bln trips in first week of Spring Festival travel rush