Xinhua

Beijing is expected to see 13 million travelers during the 40-day annual peak travel season, which started January 7.

The municipal transportation committee predicted the railway system would handle 7.25 million passengers, an increase of 4.5 percent from a year earlier, and the number of arrivals and departures at the airport and long-distance bus stations would reach 3.13 million and 2.7 million, up 4.5 percent and 10 percent respectively.

The people mainly include students on winter vacation, rural laborers back home for the Spring Festival, the Chinese lunar New Year, and government and corporate workers back home to visit relatives during the family reunion festival.

The Spring Festival this year falls on Jan. 22.

The Beijing railway bureau has arranged 132 temporary trains and set up 650 ticket offices providing round-the-clock service to facilitate passengers, and 1,000 additional planes are also ready.

The road transportation department has prepared 300 spare buses, which will shuttle between the Chinese capital and destinations in Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Hebei provinces.