China's holiday traffic becomes busier

BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- The number of railway passengers rebounded sharply in China on Tuesday as more people started their return trips after Spring Festival family reunions, the Ministry of Railways said Wednesday.

Statistics from the ministry show China's railways served 4.185 million passengers on Tuesday, up 689,000 or 9.8 percent from the previous day.

To cope with the increased demand for seats, the ministry added 238 special trains to ease the traffic, of which 64 were long-distance trains.

The ministry predicts the travel peak days will probably be Feb. 19 and 20, as more and more passengers start their return trip. The ministry said it is closely watching the passenger flow situation and will adopt appropriate measures to meet passenger demand.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Ministry of Transport (MOT) show that on Tuesday the country's roadways carried 28.1 million passengers, increasing 1.8 million or 12.6 percent from the previous day, while from Feb. 13 to 16 the combined figure was 127 million, up 10.8 percent from the same period last year.

The MOT said that the country's roadways carried a total number of 32.5 million passengers on Wednesday, up 9.7 percent year on year.

Wednesday MOT figures revealed that China's waterways were forecast to carry 780,000 passengers, down 2.5 percent year on year.

The country's roadways were already ready for more passengers' long-distance return trip, as the one-week Spring Festival holiday was near its end, said He Jianzhong, a spokesman with the MOT.

The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese Lunar New Year, is China's most important annual festival. It is an occasion for reunions of family members, relatives and friends.