People queue up to check in at the waiting hall of Xiamen Railway Station in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Feb. 14, 2026. (Photo by Zeng Demeng/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's 2026 Spring Festival travel rush had passed its halfway point as of Saturday, with inter-regional passenger trips reaching 5.08 billion in the first 20 days, the Ministry of Transport said on Sunday.

Of this total, road trips accounted for 4.76 billion, while railways handled 258 million trips. Waterways and civil aviation recorded 19.99 million and 47.52 million passenger trips, respectively.

The annual travel surge, known as chunyun and often described as the world's largest human migration, is expected to generate a record 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips during the 40-day period running from Feb. 2 to March 13 this year, according to previous estimates.■

Passengers are pictured at a platform of Harbin Railway Station in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 22, 2026. (Photo by Yuan Yong/Xinhua)

Passengers board a train at Harbin Railway Station in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Feb. 22, 2026. (Photo by Yuan Yong/Xinhua)

Passengers check in at the waiting hall of Huaibei Railway Station in Huaibei, east China's Anhui Province, Feb. 22, 2026. (Photo by Wan Shanchao/Xinhua)

A drone photo taken on Feb. 22, 2026 shows vehicles on the Runyang Bridge, Yangzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Photo by Meng Delong/Xinhua)

Passengers are pictured at a platform of Nanjing Railway Station in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, Feb. 19, 2026. (Photo by Su Yang/Xinhua)

Web editors: Shen Jianqi, Tong Lin