Travelers take advantage of options as rush gets underway

More transport modes available during holiday

This year's Spring Festival travel rush, the world's largest annual human migration, kicked off on Tuesday, with over 9 billion cross-regional trips expected. Thanks to the rapid development of China's transportation sector, passengers now have more convenient and comfortable travel options.

The 40-day travel rush will end on Feb 22. According to the Ministry of Transport, an estimated 9 billion cross-regional trips are expected to take place, up 7 percent from the rush in 2024. Railway and air passenger numbers are expected to surpass 510 million and 90 million trips, respectively, both reaching historic highs. Road trips are projected to be the dominant mode of travel, accounting for 7.2 billion trips, or approximately 80 percent of all cross-regional movement.

On Tuesday, the total cross-regional travel volume was expected to reach 172.39 million trips. Of these, railway passenger volume stood at 10.3 million, highway travel at 159.52 million, waterway passenger volume at 530,000, and air passenger volume at 2.04 million, according to the ministry.