BEIJING -- Nearly 8.3 million passenger trips were made on trains departing Beijing in the first 21 days of the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, down 11 percent from a year ago, said China Railway Beijing Group Co., Ltd.

The group is in charge of railway operation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as parts of East China's Shandong province and North China's Shanxi province.

As of Friday, the group had handled 16.5 million trips in those regions during the travel rush, down 10.6 percent year on year.

To curb the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the group has equipped the stations with nearly 900 thermo-detectors. It has also been disinfecting public places and promoting knowledge of epidemic prevention and control by various means.

The Spring Festival travel rush, also known as "chunyun," lasts 40 days from Jan 10 to Feb 18.