China's railway travel rush for the New Year holiday kicked off on Wednesday, with more than 16 million trips expected on the day before the three-day public holiday.

Cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are experiencing high passenger flows.

The national railway system has scheduled 1,328 additional passenger trains on Wednesday to accommodate the increased travel demand.

The travel rush, expected to last till Sunday, will see about 77.8 million railway passenger trips, with Jan 1 anticipated as the peak travel day.

During the period, Beijing South Railway Station will operate extra trains to cities like Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao and Linyi.

More than 200 overnight high-speed trains will operate for popular travel destinations such as Fuzhou, Xiamen, Nanchang, Ganzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou.

Road and waterway passenger flows have also seen growth since Wednesday.

In response to higher traffic flow and severe weather conditions in some parts of the country, traffic management departments have reinforced precautionary measures to ensure safe and smooth transportation.

-Reuters