Record travel volumes were expected across China on Monday, the final day of the Spring Festival holiday, as highways, rail stations and airports nationwide filled with people returning to work and school after the Chinese New Year break.

　　Cross-regional passenger trips were projected to reach about 362.6 million on Monday, according to the Ministry of Transport on Monday, keeping travel demand high.

　　The surge followed Sunday"s travel high, when nationwide mobility reached 380.35 million trips, the busiest day of this year"s holiday period and among the highest single-day totals ever recorded during the annual Spring Festival travel season.

　　Passenger flows have climbed steadily since Thursday, with daily travel volumes exceeding historical levels for the same period for three consecutive days, reflecting a concentrated wave of post-vacation returns as the holiday drew to a close.

　　China"s 40-day Spring Festival travel season, known as chunyun, passed its halfway mark on Saturday, 20 days after the travel rush began on Feb 2.

　　Widely regarded as the world"s largest recurring movement of people, this year"s travel season is expected to generate a record 9.5 billion cross-regional trips, including about 540 million rail journeys and 95 million air passenger trips, according to official estimates.

　　Travel demand became more concentrated during the nine-day public holiday that concluded on Monday, contributing to higher daily peaks in recent days.

　　Railways were expected to handle 18.5 million passenger trips on Monday, marking the peak of return travel by train, with operators scheduling 2,297 additional services nationwide to meet demand.

　　In Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, railway stations reported peak return passenger flows on Monday.