China's railways carried 101.37 million people in the 29 days ending Feb. 4 during the Spring Festival travel season, up 4.4 percent year on year, sources with the Ministry of Railways said Thursday.

This spring travel season has witnessed eleven successive days when Chinese medium- and long-distance railways' daily passenger numbers exceeded 1.4 million, a rare figure.

On Wednesday, the medium- and long-distance railways carried 1.44 million passengers, up 9.3 percent year on year, the ministry said.

The travel season has not come to an end, however, and the ministry predicted that returning college students as well as migrant workers returning from the countryside to the cities will form the last railway travel peak from Friday. The last spring travel season lasted 40 days.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2004)