China's passenger traffic is expected to reach 2.5 billion around the Chinese New Year, an increase of 7.7 percent from the previous year, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said.

A total of eight ministries of China including the DNRC held a meeting yesterday to arrange the New Year, or Spring Festival, transportation. They predicted at the meeting that 2.5 billion people in total will travel railway, waterway, aircraft and road transportation during the holidays.

Train tickets remain a focus with the Ministry of Railways which allocated 1,972 pairs of trains for the New Year travelling, a year-on-year increase of 156 pairs.

"The Wuhan-Guangzhou high speed trains have been put into operation. The railway transportation has reached its full capacity and is expected to transport some 18 million more people compared with last year. But the railway capacity still falls short of the demands," said Hu Yadong, vice minister of Ministry of Railway.

The spring transportation will last 40 days, starting from January 30.