BEIJING -- The total number of trips by rail since the start of the Spring Festival travel rush on Feb 1 had reached 208 million by Friday, up 5 percent from a year earlier, according to the China Railway Corporation (CRC).

Travelers made 11.9 million railway trips on Friday, with an additional 1,150 trains scheduled, the CRC said.

On Saturday, 11.5 million trips and 1,024 additional trains are expected.

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 transportation system to the 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 earlier estimates by the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner.