Holiday travel rush rail trips down by nearly 50%

The Spring Festival travel rush, which came to an end on Tuesday, recorded 210 million rail trips during the period, according to the country's railway operator.

The 40-day-long travel rush, kicking off on Jan 10, saw 196 million fewer journeys, or a decrease of 48.3 percent over the previous year, China State Railway Group said on Wednesday.

The number of trips made ahead of the Spring Festival - which fell on Jan 25 this year - did increase as expected, up 17.2 percent compared with the same period last year, with 168 million trips recorded between Jan 10 and 24, or 11.2 million trips every day, it said.

But the number of trips has dropped significantly since Jan 25 due to travel restrictions and quarantine aimed at containing the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Only a total of nearly 42.5 million trips were made between Jan 25 and Feb 14, an 83.9 percent drop year-on-year, it added, with the railway network handling 1.7 million trips on daily basis, it added.

The same sharp decline also occurred in the country's civil aviation sector during this year's travel rush, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The country only handled a total of about 38.4 million air trips during the rush period, a 47.3 percent drop from last year. Only 157,500 trips were made on Tuesday -- the last day of the travel rush -- which saw a year-on-year decrease of 91.2 percent, the administration said on Wednesday.