The annual Spring Festival travel rush, or chunyun in Chinese, started on Thursday. In the following 40 days, the world's largest annual human migration will again hit the road, lasting from Feb 1 to March 12.

Some new changes, such as the expansion of high-speed railway network and technological development, will smooth travel this year, chinanews.com reported on Thursday.

Change No 1: Decline in number of road trips

A total of 2.98 billion trips will be made during the Spring Festival travel rush, about the same as that of last year, Lian Weiliang, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference on Jan 31.

The number of train trips is expected to exceed 390 million, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, and air trips are likely to top 65 million trips, up 10 percent from last year. However, the number of road trips will drop 1.6 percent to 2.48 billion, marking the first decline in road trips, according to Lian.

As the Spring Festival, on Feb 16, arrives late this year, the climax of daily trips would appear after the Spring Festival, with trips projected to top 100 million, Lian said.

Change No 2: Bigger role of bullet trains

A total of 57.5 percent of the railway trips during the Spring Festival travel rush will be undertaken on bullet trains this year, up 4.8 percent year-on-year.

In addition to the 3,819 pairs of trains in regular operation every day, another 1,152 and 1,330 train services will be scheduled before and after the festival respectively, according to China Railway Corporation. High-speed trains will make up 43 percent of these additional train services, up from the 36 percent last year.

Change No 3: Smart services

The railway authorities have launched a slew of measures to provide "smart" services, including self-service counters to check real name ticket and ID at the entrance of railway stations, smart navigation system at the waiting rooms, and travel notices during the entire trips.

Mobile programs are also available online and railway stations, enabling passengers to check the number of tickets available and stops.

As for road travels, the nationwide integrated electronic toll collection (ETC) system will play a bigger role in toll management to enhance vehicle travel efficiency, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China also stressed to provide services through making full use of internet, new media and auto identification.

Change No 4: Convenient way home

Online meal delivery is already available for railway passengers, and now passengers can order and cancel their meals one hour before a train pulls off, after an update of the online ordering system.

Meanwhile, several Chinese airliners have permitted the use of mobile devices in flight, including China Southern Airlines, China Eastern Airlines and Hainan Airlines.