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Travel peak looms as holiday to end

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-07 21:08

China's railways will embrace a new round of travel peak as millions of travelers start returning to home and work after the eight-day National Day holiday.

Railways carried 5.6 million passengers on Tuesday, and 48.5 million during October 1-6, up 2.4 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Railways Wednesday.

Related readings:  China retail sales boom in National Day Holiday  Domestic tourism heats up during China's National Day Holiday  Short trips peak during golden week  China expects 64m rail travelers during forthcoming holidays

Short-distance trips became popular, making the high-speed bullet trains packed with travelers.

The ministry urged the local authorities to arrange additional trains and work out contingency plans to ensure travel safety.

The holiday, running from October 1-8, was extended by one day this year as the Mid-Autumn festival fell in the period.

The China Tourism Academy forecasted before the holiday that the number of tourists on China's mainland could surpass 200 million, while tourist income was expected to be more than 100 billion yuan ($14.7 billion), an increase of 25 percent over the same period of last year.