An estimated 214.58 million cross-regional passenger trips were expected nationwide on the fifth day of China's 2026 Spring Festival travel rush on Friday, according to the Ministry of Transport, marking a 9.3 percent increase from the day before.

Among them, the national railway was expected to transport 12.9 million passengers. Railway passenger traffic has remained above 10 million for five consecutive days. As of 08:00 on Friday, a total of 127 million train tickets for the travel period had been sold via the nation's train ticket booking platform 12306.

Road traffic volume was estimated at 198.73 million passenger trips, a 9.5-percent increase from the previous day. Air travel volume was estimated at 2.4 million passenger trips, and waterway travel at 550,000 trips.

According to China State Railway Group, in order to better meet passenger travel needs, the railway department is working to maximize transportation capacity and has begun gradually releasing tickets for pre-holiday nighttime high-speed trains.

The Spring Festival travel rush has entered its sixth day on Saturday. So far, more than 127 million train tickets have been sold through the 12306 ticketing platform for the travel period. On Saturday alone, railways are expected to handle 13.8 million passenger trips. To accommodate the newly added nighttime high-speed trains, transport authorities in many regions have extended metro and bus service hours accordingly.

On the roads, traffic on expressways nationwide is expected to exceed 40 million vehicle trips. Due to snowfall and icy road conditions, some national and provincial trunk roads and expressways in Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang have been temporarily closed or placed under traffic control.

As for water transport, strong winds caused by the current cold wave have triggered joint gale warnings from maritime authorities in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai.

The Spring Festival, or the Chinese New Year, falls on Feb 17 this year. The official holiday for this year's Spring Festival lasts nine days, and the travel rush runs through March 13.