China’s 2026 Spring Festival travel rush started on Monday, 15 days ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 17 this year.

This year’s travel rush is scheduled to run through March 13, with inter-regional trips expected to hit a record 9.5 billion.

According to authorities, the railway system is expected to handle 540 million trips during the 40-day period, with an average daily passenger trips reaching 13.48 million, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent.

As of 16:00 Sunday, a total of 64.61 million train tickets had been sold since pre-sales began on January 19 for the travel rush period.

At 00:40 on Monday, Beijing launched its first train for 2026 Spring Festival holiday, carrying nearly 700 passengers to their destinations for the year's most important festival.

The train will traverse provinces such as Hebei, Shandong, Henan and Anhui before finally reaching Nanchang City in east China's Jiangxi Province after nearly 20 hours of travel.

During the era of online ticket purchasing, the ticketing system introduced measures to accommodate the elderly, ensuring that both young people and seniors have access to tickets.

"We can book train tickets with phone calls, so it's convenient for the elderly, as we're not good at using smart phones. This policy is helpful to us," said a senior passenger.

"To ensure smooth operations during the Spring Festival travel rush, all staff members have received intensive training in service etiquette and emergency response. For transfer stations with high passenger flow, such as Hengshui and Fuyang, crew members have also familiarized themselves with convenient transfer options in advance to help passengers save time," said Liu Chao, a train conductor of China Railway Beijing Branch.

The China Railway Beijing Branch, which serves Beijing's neighboring municipalities and provinces, is expected to handle 41.47 million trips during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, a 2.5-percent increase compared to last year. Of these, some 19.947 million trips are expected to be handled locally within Beijing.

"A total of 285 seats with chargers and four charging areas have been set at the Beijing South Railway Station to meet passengers' needs. Pet transport services are also available on 39 trains within the Beijing Branch's jurisdiction. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed line has provided ski equipment transport services, allowing skiers to take their ski gear aboard," said Han Yong, a spokesman of the Passenger Transport Department, China Railway Beijing Branch.

Each year during the Spring Festival travel rush, millions of people working, studying or living away from their hometowns return home for the Spring Festival, China's most important traditional holiday, forming the world's largest annual human migration.