BEIJING - Railway trips in China hit a record high at the end of Spring Festival holiday as travelers returned to work, the national railway operator said Thursday.

On Wednesday, 12.1 million passenger trips were made by rail, up 10.5 percent from the last day of the 2017 holiday and a daily record, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC).

On Thursday, 11.8 million railway trips are expected to be made, with an additional 1,207 trains scheduled, the CRC said.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese went back to their hometowns to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year with their families.

The annual travel rush around the festival, known as "chunyun," often puts the transport system to test.

About 2.98 billion trips were expected to be made between Feb 1 and March 12, basically the same figure as last year, according to estimates by the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner.

An additional 1,152 and 1,330 train services were scheduled before and after the festival, respectively, on the basis of 3,819 trains each day, the CRC said early this month.