(Yicai Global) Oct. 10 -- The ranks of domestic residents traveling by rail burgeoned during the combined National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday period.

National railways cumulatively carried more than 132 million person-times of tourists, up 11.6 percent annually, latest data from China Railway Corp. (CRC) shows.

In the nine consecutive days starting from Sept. 30, the number of railway travelers per day nationwide exceeded 10 million person-times, especially, on Oct. 1, when that figure reached a record high of 15,025,000 person-times.

The abrupt rise in passenger numbers prompted local railway authorities across the country to take various measures to reduce the amount of time travelers spent waiting in line, CRC said. For example, some key stations subordinate to the Shenyang and Wuhan Railway Bureaus launched a facial recognition system, allowing tourists to board trains with just a mug scan.