Spring Festival rail travel sets historical record

China's latest Spring Festival travel rush, which ended on Saturday, witnessed over 9 billion passenger trips, setting multiple records, according to the Ministry of Transport on Sunday.

The 40-day Spring Festival travel period, which began on Jan 14, saw a total of 9.02 billion passenger trips, marking a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase.

Of these trips, over 510 million were transported by rail, up 6.1 percent year-on-year, setting a historical high. Road travel accounted for 8.39 billion trips, a year-on-year increase of 7.2 percent. Waterway and civil aviation transportations recorded 31.21 million and 90.2 million trips, up 7.6 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.