BEIJING - Railway trips in China hit a record high as travelers returned to work after the Spring Festival break, data from the national railway operator showed.

On Saturday, some 13.17 million passenger trips were made by rail, a daily record for the travel rush, up 38.8 percent year on year, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC).

On Sunday, 12.2 million railway trips are expected to be made as the travel rush continues, 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 (chunyun) often puts the transport system to the test.

As more trains have been put into operation, railway transport capacity improved by 5.3 percent this year during the travel rush, according to the CRC.

The Spring Festival travel rush started from Jan 21 and will last till March 1, with railway trips expected to hit 413 million in total, up 8.3 percent.