China's mass transit in high gear as Spring Festival travel rush starts

BEIJING -- China, the world's most populated country, on Friday ushered in its largest annual migration, 15 days ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Lunar New Year.

There will be three billion trips during the travel rush from Jan 10 to Feb 18 for family reunions and travel, slightly up from that of last year, according to a forecast from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

NDRC predicted an 8-percent growth in train trips, 8.4-percent increase in air trips and 9.6-percent hike in waterway trips.

The 40-day travel rush is known as chunyunin Chinese. The Lunar New Year falls on Jan 25 this year, earlier than previous years, which brings a bigger challenge to the transport system as the return trips of college students overlap with the travel rush.

Over 300 million train tickets have been sold for the Spring Festival travel rush after the presale started on Dec 12, 2019, said China's railway operator.