Rail expansion makes travel rush smoother

It cuts travel time between Chongqing and Guangzhou from 12 hours to seven.

The national railway system also is making efforts to provide more seats. An additional 1,152 train services will be scheduled at the start of the rush and an extra 1,330 near the end, with 3,819 trains operating every day, according to Li.

Some 9.11 million seats are provided each day during the rush before Lunar New Year, which this year falls on Feb 16, an increase of 5.2 percent. After the festival, 9.33 million seats will be provided every day, growing by 5.3 percent, according to China Railway Corp.

Thanks to the extension of China's high-speed network, travelers will have a faster and more comfortable way home during the travel rush.

Some 58 percent of passengers will take bullet trains. An additional 177 overnight bullet train services will be added to popular routes each night, including Beijing-Harbin, Beijing-Guangzhou and Guiyang-Guangzhou, carrying 100,000 more passengers a day, CRC said.

China's railway network covers 127,000 kilometers, including 25,000 km of high-speed railway.