China's railways carry 75 mln holiday passengers

BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Chinese media) -- China's railways carried

75.05 million passengers between Jan. 11-27, or in the first 17 days of the

40-day Spring Festival travel rush.

The figure represents a 17 percent increase from a

year earlier, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said Wednesday.

The ministry has ordered to add more transport

capacity to provinces and municipalities including Sichuan, Chongqing, and

Jiangxi to brace for the post-holiday traffic rush. The regions are homes to the

largest number of migrant rural workers.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese went home for family

gatherings in the lunar new year holiday, the most important traditional one in

China, creating the world's largest population migration.

In addition, 114.7 million passengers have traveled

by road between Jan. 25-28, up 5.4 percent from the same period last year. Short

trips account for 80 percent of the total in the first four days of the

seven-day Spring Festival holiday.