Record passenger volume for railway

Shanghai Railway Bureau served 5.56 million passengers over the four days from Wednesday to Saturday, setting a record for the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period, the bureau announced Saturday.

The bureau added that from Wednesday to Friday it served 1.37 million passengers a day, an increase of 30 percent compared to normal levels. It also added 66 trains to cope with increased demand Saturday. Routes between Shanghai and Hangzhou, Nanjing and Hefei saw particularly heavy traffic Saturday.

Last year's Mid-Autumn Festival was combined with the National Day holiday, making comparison difficult. The bureau served a total of 12.83 million passengers over the 11-day period, according to figures reported by eastday.com.

In 2011, the bureau served 4 million passengers over the festival, which fell from September 9 to 12, according to a report by xinmin.cn.

Meanwhile, Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration said 15 key tourist attractions in the city that charge admission fees received a total of 371,400 visitors over the holiday period, according to a report by Youth Daily.

The bureau estimated that Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street received 3.2 million visitors, the Bund 1.1 million visitors and Yuyuan Garden 850,000 visitors. Sites in suburban Shanghai were also popular, with Dianshan Lake and Oriental Land in Qingpu district each receiving around 80,000 visitors.

Passenger numbers will spike again during and around the seven-day National Day holiday from October 1 to 7. The bureau said rail services will be particularly busy on September 30, October 1, 7 and 8, and asked passengers to avoid traveling on these days if possible.