China’s railway network is expected to handle 12.9 million passenger trips, with an additional 1,209 passenger train trips scheduled, on Friday, the fifth day of the Spring Festival travel rush, according to data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway).

While managing to enlarge the transportation capacity, railway administration authorities across China have enhanced passenger services at main hubs, including deploying extra intelligent security check equipment to enhance efficiency.

Chinese railways handled 11.759 million passenger trips on Thursday, according to China Railway data.

Transport crossing the Qiongzhou Strait in south China was temporarily suspended due to heavy fog Friday morning.

Competent local authorities put 53 vessels on standby in coordination and maximized the use of port channels, so as to ensure swift transportation of passengers and vehicles once shipping operations can be resumed.

Connecting south China's island province of Hainan with Guangdong Province, the Qiongzhou Strait is handling the first Spring Festival travel rush since the launch of island-wide special customs operations in the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) on December 18, 2025.

The strait is expected to see the crossing of more than 4.66 million passengers and over 1.17 million vehicles during the current Spring Festival travel rush, representing year-on-year increases of 12 percent and 10 percent, respectively, according to the Ministry of Transport.

China's civil aviation sector is estimated to handle 2.4 million passenger trips on Friday.

This year's Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, runs from Feb. 2 to March 13. Official estimates indicate that inter-regional passenger trips during the period are projected to reach 9.5 billion, a record high.