Chinese railway system handles 13.95 mln trips on Day 9 of Spring Festival travel rush

China's railway system handled an estimated 13.95 million passenger trips on Tuesday, the ninth day of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush in 2026, official data showed.

An additional 1,363 trains were marshaled to meet the surging demand on the day, according to the China State Railway Group.

Meanwhile, the national highway system handled more than 40 million vehicle trips nationwide on Tuesday, and the outbound traffic from large and medium-sized cities started rising.

It's estimated that a total of 760,000 passenger trips were made by waterways across China on Tuesday, as island tours and city sightseeing tours emerge as popular options for Chinese people to make holidays.

The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese New Year holiday, falls on Feb 17 this year, and the official holiday season lasts nine days from Feb 14 to 23.

The annual travel surge, known as chunyun, is often described as the world's largest human migration. This year's Spring Festival travel rush is expected to generate a record 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips during the 40-day period running from Feb 2 to March 13.

Chinese railway system handles 13.95 mln trips on Day 9 of Spring Festival travel rush

Chinese railway system handles 13.95 mln trips on Day 9 of Spring Festival travel rush

Chinese railway system handles 13.95 mln trips on Day 9 of Spring Festival travel rush

Chinese railway system handles 13.95 mln trips on Day 9 of Spring Festival travel rush

China made public a work plan on Friday to further upgrade service consumption infrastructures and support housekeeping, elderly care and childcare sectors.

The document, jointly released by the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments, outlined 64 measures to boost service consumption, including traditional sectors like catering and accommodation, tourism, as well as elderly care and childcare.

Emerging growth sectors, such as housekeeping, performance services and inbound consumption, are also covered.

These measures will create new consumption scenarios amid efforts to drive service consumption and meet people's growing needs for a better life, according to the ministry.

China unveils plan to further boost service consumption