BEIJING -- Railway traffic peaked Sunday with millions of Chinese returning to work as the week-long Spring Festival holiday ends.

Sunday is expected to see 12.52 million railway trips, up 3.3 percent, and the traffic peak since the Chinese New Year travel rush began about two weeks ago, according to the China Railway Corporation.

About 11.11 million railway trips were made Saturday, up 4 percent year on year.

Rain and snowy weather hit many regions in China during the weekend, partly shifting traffic of other means of transport to the railway.

Hundreds of millions of Chinese go back to their hometowns to celebrate the Chinese New Year, creating an annual travel rush around the festival that often puts the transport system to the test.

This year's Spring Festival travel rush started from Jan 21 and will last till March 1, with railway trips expected to hit 413 million in total, up 8.3 percent.