The number of railway travelers in a single day reached an all-time high on Saturday at 5.15 million, up 4.7 percent from last year's Spring Festival travel peak, China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) announced on Sunday.

Passenger flows were mainly in the northeastern Harbin City, Beijing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Shanghai, Fuyang in Anhui Province, Nanchang, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

Traveler numbers in those cities rose steadily during the holiday, with 110,465 passengers passing through Nanchang railway station, 20,221 more than last year, and 80,407 passengers at Wuchang, an increase of 14,049.

An extra 779 trains were arranged for temporary use on Saturday, 441 of them providing express services.

More than 5 million people traveled by train in each of the five days since Feb. 12.

Students returning to school and rural migrant workers going back to work contributed to the peak, which is expected to last until after the traditional Lantern Festival on Feb. 21.

(Xinhua News Agency February 18, 2008)