Traffic peaks as Lunar New Year holiday ends

China's railways, air routes and highways saw surging traffic on Tuesday as the week-long Lunar New Year holiday came to an end.

Traffic authorities estimated that about 9.7 million trips were made by train and some 1.4 million by plane on Tuesday, setting new records. Another 73.6 million trips were made by highway.

Altogether, Chinese passengers made 8.25 million trips by air during the week-long holiday, up 7.3 percent year on year, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

Every year, tens of millions of Chinese return to the cities where they work or attend school after reuniting with family during the Spring Festival, which fell on Feb. 19 this year.

The pre- and post-holiday travel rush known as "Chunyun" in Chinese has been called the world's largest human migration.