Train passengers hit new high at beginning of Qingming

Around 7.61 million people traveled across China by train on Monday, the beginning of a three-day national Qingming Festival holiday, China's railway authorities announced Tuesday.

The figure was 788,000, or 11.5 percent, higher than same day of the previous year, representing the highest ever level for first day of the holiday, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said in a statement posted on its website.

Among those passengers, 1.79 million, or 23.52 percent of the total, traveled by China's high-speed trains on Monday, up 13.4 percent on last year.

Qingming Festival, a traditional Chinese holiday for mourning the dead, falls on Wednesday, but the public holiday runs from Monday to Wednesday this year.