Spring Festival holiday passenger trips hit record high

CHONGQING, Feb. 14, 2016 -- Vehicles queue to pass the Jiulongpo Toll Station on the Chongqing-Kunming Highway in Chongqing, southwest China, Feb. 13, 2016. Chinese passengers made a record number of trips during the Spring Festival holiday, according to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Sunday. Passenger trips reached 400 million from Feb. 7 to 13, up 6.7 percent from last year, MOT data showed. Over 47 million trips were made by rail, more than 333 million on road and about 8.5 million by air. Road trips were up by 7 percent. (Xinhua/Chen Xingyu)

BEIJING, Feb. 14 -- Chinese passengers made a record number of trips during the Spring Festival holiday, according to the Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Sunday.

Passenger trips reached 400 million from Feb. 7 to 13, up 6.7 percent from last year, MOT data showed.

Over 47 million trips were made by rail, more than 330 million on road and about 8.5 million by air. Road trips were up by 7 percent.

This year, the Chinese are expected to make 2.91 billion passenger trips across the country during the 40-day lunar New Year travel rush, or "Chunyun", which lasts from Jan. 24 to March 3 and is the world's largest annual human migration for family reunions.

About 1.47 billion passenger trips were made from the start of Chunyun to Feb. 13, up 3.5 percent year on year.