China's railways carried 60.75 million passengers nationwide around the seven days of National Day holidays and one day of Mid-Autumn Festival, the Ministry of Railways said on Friday.

The figure was 2.18 million more or 3.7 percent up from the same period last year, according to the ministry.

The peak transport season lasted for eleven days from September 28 to October 8.

China's railways carried a record high of 6.93 million people nationwide on October 1, the National Day. The previous record was set on October 5 in 2008 when China's railways carried 6.48 million passengers.

This year, China's National Day holidays and the Mid-Autumn Festival, a key festival in China for family re-union, overlapped. More people working far away from home chose to go back for family re-union in the eight-day holidays.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2009)