Beijing: Millions of migrant workers started heading back to their villages in China to celebrate the Chinese New Year clogging virtually every means of transport all over the country, in what is often billed as the world`s biggest annual human migration.
The peak travel season kicked off on Sunday as tens of millions of passengers, mainly migrant workers and students, set off on the move to celebrate the Spring Festival that marks the Chinese Lunar New Year. The week-long festival falls on January 23 this year and Chinese all over the country and world rush to their native places for family reunions.
A total of 3.16 billion passenger trips are expected during the 40-day peak travel season, or Chunyun (Spring transportation) in Chinese, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.
The rush is mainly generated by China`s famed migrant labourers, roughly numbering about 400 million who en masse set off every year for holiday to be with their families in the villages for about a month. More airlines, trains and bus services have been added to cope with the passenger surge.
Except for the temporary trains, more high-speed trains have been put into operation for the Spring Festival.
PTI