The Spring Festival travel rush, or Chunyun, the largest annual travel season in China, kicked off on January 17, with some 280 million estimated passengers on the move by train. In the 40-day travel season, many people travel home to unite with their families for the Lunar New Year, which falls on February 1 this year. China Railway said the passenger flow this year is 28 percent more compared with last year, but still significantly less than the time before the pandemic.