8.4 billion passenger trips expected during Spring Festival travel rush

More than 8.4 billion passenger trips were expected during the Spring Festival travel rush, which was set to end on Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Transport on Tuesday.

Railways were expected to see 480 million passenger trips, sea vessels 29 million, and airplanes 83 million.

Roads were expected to record 7.83 billion passenger trips, including an estimated 6.72 billion non-commercial trips by private vehicles on expressways and national and provincial highways, accounting for about 80 percent of all passenger trips. It is projected that commercial passenger transport on roads will reach 1.11 billion trips.

This year's 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, began on Jan 26. The rush is an annual phenomenon in China, where millions of people travel across the country to reunite with their families for the Spring Festival holiday.

This year's travel rush once again demonstrated the immense scale and complexity of China's transportation system during this significant period of mass migration.