China to embrace post-holiday travel rush

Passengers line up to board the train at the railway station in Beijing, January 31, 2009. [CFP]

Passengers carrying their luggage walk in the railway station in Shanghai, January 31, 2009. [Xinhua]

Passengers line up to buy tickets at the railway station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi province, January 31, 2009. [Xinhua]

Passengers line up to board the train at the railway station in Shanghai, January 31, 2009. [Xinhua]

Passengers rest on the square of Wuchang railway station as they wait for the train in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, January 31, 2009. [Xinhua]

BEIJING, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The number of China's railway passengers continued to rise as millions of travelers were on their way back from family reunions on the last day of the Spring Festival holiday, Xinhua learnt from the The Ministry of Railways (MOR) on Saturday.

Railways carried 4.83 million passengers on Friday, up 384,000 from a year ago, 595,000 more than Thursday, according to the MOR office in charge of Spring Festival transport.

To cope with the travel peak, 722 temporary trains were put into operation on Friday, with 349 serving for mid-and-long distance service.

The office said more railway travelers were expected based on the current calculation of ticket selling.

The ministry pledged to arrange more trains to the transportation hubs including Chengdu, Hefei, Wuhan, Nanchang and Hunan.

In the first 20 days of the 40-day festival rush period starting from Jan. 11, 87.93 million trips were made on the country's railways. That was 4.40 million daily on average, up 15.6 percent from the same period last year.

The passengers were carried in order, and no travelers were found seriously stranded, the office said.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, is the most important traditional festival in China. It falls on Jan. 26 this year.