The price of train tickets is highly likely to rise during holidays following the reform of China's railways authorities, dayoo.com reported on Friday citing an anonymous source with Guangzhou railway authority.

"The hike will be fine tuning or progressive, like 10 yuan ($1.61) a time, because a sudden rise of 100 yuan ($16.1) may trigger massive social repercussion," said the source.

Besides, the rise will not affect the annual Spring Festival travel rush period, nor is it likely to take place very soon as the government may first subsidize the losses of the newly established China Railway Corp.

Ticket prices for bus and air travel fluctuate between the rush and low season in China following their respective reforms. Intra-province bus lines normally hike their ticket price by 30 to 40 yuan during the holidays, while air tickets sell at discounted prices during the low season.