Railway's holiday passenger numbers expected to continue to rise

Railway passenger numbers continued to rise on Monday, the fifth day of a week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, according to the China Railway Corporation.

Some 9.5 million passenger trips are expected to be made on China's railway network on Monday, up from 9.02 million trips the previous day, the company said.

The railway system added 636 trains to meet the rising demand mainly from short family visits and tourist trips.

Chief conductor Kan Xiaojun and his colleagues pose for photos on a platform of Guangzhou East Railway Station in south China's Guangdong Province, Feb. 18, 2018. The 42-year-old Kan Xiaojun is a chief conductor of the train Z99. He has been on duty during the Spring Festival travel rush, also known as the Chunyun, for 12 years and has missed family reunion of the festival for seven times. Most members of Kan's team come from China's Yangtze River Delta region. Among them, the youngest attendant is 20. [Photo: Xinhua]

The seven-day Lunar New Year holiday began on Feb. 15. A 40-day period of heavy passenger traffic, known as the "chunyun," spans from Feb. 1 to March 12.

During the 40 days, about 390 million passenger trips were expected to be made on railways, up 8.8 percent from the previous year, according to the company.