Inter-regional passenger trips across China during the 2026 Spring Festival travel rush, also known as chunyun, are expected to reach a record high of 9.5 billion, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's economic regulator, said on Thursday.

During the 40-day travel rush, which runs from February 2 to March 13, self-driving trips will be the main means of transport, accounting for about 80 percent of the total.

Meanwhile, the national railway network is projected to handle 540 million passenger trips, and the civil aviation sector is estimated to manage 95 million passenger trips during the period.

The overall scale and daily peak of railway and civil aviation passenger volumes are both expected to exceed the historical peaks, Li Chunlin, deputy director of the NDRC, said at a press conference on Thursday. 

In terms of transport capacity, the railway network is expected to operate over 14,000 passenger trains during the busiest days, with the passenger capacity increasing by 5.3 percent year on year, according to Li.

The civil aviation sector is focusing on increasing flights to hub airports and popular tourist destinations. During the travel rush, an average of 19,400 flights is expected to be guaranteed per day, representing a year-on-year growth of 5 percent.