BEIJING, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's railways will embrace a new round of travel peak as millions of travelers start returning to home and work after the eight-day National Day holiday.

Railways carried 5.6 million passengers on Tuesday, and 48.5 million during Oct. 1-6, up 2.4 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Railways Wednesday.

Short-distance trips became popular, making the high-speed bullet trains packed with travelers.

The ministry urged the local authorities to arrange additional trains and work out contingency plans to ensure travel safety.

The holiday, running from Oct.1-8, was extended by one day this year as the Mid-Autumn festival fell in the period.

The China Tourism Academy forecasted before the holiday that the number of tourists on China's mainland could surpass 200 million, while tourist income was expected to be more than 100 billion yuan (14.7 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 25 percent over the same period of last year.

Xinhua Editor: An