Although China's railway links rose rapidly in length and speed, they still could not meet the tiding demands during the approaching Spring Festival travel peak, a senior official with the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said Wednesday.

The use of more high speed trains and passenger-only lines along the nation's trunk routes strengthened the transportation capacity, but they were still not enough for an estimation of 210 million passengers during the transportation peak, said Gao Xiaobing with the MOR, at a press conference in Beijing.

The annual peak season, or "chun yun" in Chinese, will span from Jan. 30 to March 10, during which the Lunar New Year, China's most important traditional festival for family reunion, will fall on Feb. 14.

Freezing weather which frequently hit the nation this winter would add more uncertainties to the transportation as college students, migrant workers and tourists would flock to the railways during the same period, she said.

The number of travelers would hit 5.25 million daily and the peak volume could top 6.5 million a day. However, the full daily transportation capacity would be 5.57 million, 430,000 more than the previous year, Gao said.

Chun yun has become a complicated social problem in China, Gao said. Inadequate railway services resulted in severe ticket shortages and the situation was exacerbated as scalpers stockpiled tickets and resold them at higher prices for fat profit margins.

To crack down on ticket hoarding, China will pilot a system during this year's peak season, requiring train travelers to buy tickets with their own personal IDs.

Railway work staff would be severely punished or removed from posts if they were found engaged in any hoarding activities, Gao said.

Ticket booths would operate 24 hours a day to ensure supply, she said.