The number of railway passengers rebounded sharply in China on Tuesday as more people started their return trips after Spring Festival family reunions, the Ministry of Railways said Wednesday.

Passengers wait to take their trains inside a makeshift waiting room at a railway station in Nanchang, capital of east China's Jiangxi Province, Feb. 17, 2010. The railway station of Nanchang met its transport peak on Wednesday as large numbers of returning tourists went by trains here. [Zhou Mi/Xinhua]

Statistics from the ministry show China's railways served 4.185 million passengers on Tuesday, up 689,000 or 9.8 percent from the previous day.

To cope with the increased demand for seats, the ministry added 238 special trains to ease the traffic, of which 64 were long-distance trains.

The ministry predicts the travel peak days will probably be Feb. 19 and 20, as more and more passengers start their return trip. The ministry said it is closely watching the passenger flow situation and will adopt appropriate measures to meet passenger demand.

Meanwhile, statistics from the Ministry of Transport (MOT) show that on Tuesday the country's roadways carried 28.1 million passengers, increasing 1.8 million or 12.6 percent from the previous day, while from Feb. 13 to 16 the combined figure was 127 million, up 10.8 percent from the same period last year.

People wait for their buses at a long-distance bus station in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 17, 2010. Jinan met its medium and short-distance Spring Festival travel peak on Wednesday with most of the travelers going by long-distance buses to visit their relatives. [Zhu Zheng/Xinhua]

The MOT said that the country's roadways carried a total number of 32.5 million passengers on Wednesday, up 9.7 percent year on year.

Wednesday MOT figures revealed that China's waterways were forecast to carry 780,000 passengers, down 2.5 percent year on year.

The country's roadways were already ready for more passengers' long-distance return trip, as the one-week Spring Festival holiday was near its end, said He Jianzhong, a spokesman with the MOT.

The Spring Festival, also known as the Chinese Lunar New Year, is China's most important annual festival. It is an occasion for reunions of family members, relatives and friends.