More than 103 million passengers were carried by the country's railways from Jan. 14 to Feb. 10, reported the Ministry of Railways on Saturday.

Beginning Jan. 29 this year, the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, is a time for family reunions. The Spring Festival travel rush began on Jan. 14 and will be end on Feb. 11.

About 44.9 million passengers used medium-range or long-distance trains, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.

To handle the passenger traffic, the ministry brought in 14,124temporary trains, up 19 percent compared with the similar period last year.

Feb. 4, the seventh day of the new year, witnessed a total passenger flow of 4.34 million, the largest number for a single day.

The railways carried some 1.956 million passengers on medium-range and long-distance trips on Feb. 8, some 30,000 more than the peak day of last year.

By Feb. 8, the daily railway passenger flow had remained over 4million for seven consecutive days.

On average the railways carried about 3.502 million passengers per day leading up to New Year's Day, up 10 percent year-on-year. About 3.882 million passengers took railways since New Year's Day, the same as last year.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2006)