BEIJING - About 75.4 million Chinese are expected to hit the rails during the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays this year, the Ministry of Railways said on Sunday.

The number of passengers traveling during the holiday season, which lasts from Sept 27 to Oct 7, will increase 5 percent from a year earlier to reach 75.4 million, an average of 6.86 million people per day, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

The holiday season travel peak will arrive on Oct 1, a day on which 9 million people are expected to take trains, up by 320,000 from one year earlier, the statement said.

The ministry plans to put an additional 241 pairs of trains into service during the holidays to accommodate larger numbers of travelers, according to the statement.