Some 8.2 million people have traveled by train in China over the past three days as the peak season of the world's largest railway passenger flow draws nearer.

The Chinese Ministry of Railway announced the beginning of the busiest transport season of the year on Monday, noting that 130 million people will travel by train in the 40-day period around the Chinese New Year on February 12. The figure is two percent higher than in the same period of last year.

The ministry expects three peaks of railway passenger traffic around the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival. The first one will come between February 7-9, with more than 3.5 million people traveling by train every day. The second peak will occur around February 18-20. Some 4.1 million people are expected to take the train each day. The third and last peak is expected tobe between February 28 and March 2, with a daily passenger flow onthe railways exceeding 3.6 million.

During the coming Spring Festival, a traditional holiday for family reunions, more than 1.7 billion Chinese people around the country will take trains, buses and airplanes to go back home.

( People's Daily January 29, 2002)