About 145 million Chinese would ride the rails during the Spring Festival travel peak from Jan. 25 to March 5, the Ministry of Railways predicted.

The number of passengers would be 3.5 percent up from last year, said the ministry, which is adding more trains and launching a crackdown on black-market tickets.

Meanwhile, highways will carry about 1.79 billion passengers during the holiday season, up 3.5 percent from the same period last year.

Waterways would transport 27 million passengers, the same as last year's, said the Ministry of Communications.

China's transportation facilities have long been pushed to the limit during the Spring Festival period, the busiest travel season in the world's most populous country, and the number of travelers has soared in recent years.

The number of migrants who work in booming cities and return home once a year for the holiday has expanded enormously. People in China celebrate the Spring Festival as a special occasion for family reunion.

Daily rail passenger numbers in this year's peak holiday season are expected to reach 3.65 million, an increase of 120,000 over last year, said Xinhua News Agency.

The Ministry of Railways would add 39 express trains and four standby trains this year.

It also said China's vice railway minister had already ordered a "severe crackdown" on train ticket fraud and the ticket black market.

Editor: Catherine