CHINA Railway (CR) has reported an increase in both domestic passenger numbers and freight transported to and from Europe in the first quarter of 2024.
The state-run railway company says that passenger numbers were up 28.5% year-on-year and reports that it carried 1.01 billion passengers within China, equating to an average of 11.15 million passengers per day.
CR says that it operated 10,486 trains each day, a 15% year-on-year increase for the first quarter, and this year carried a record number of passengers - 480 million - during the Spring Festival period.
CR adds that it is rigorously analysing passenger travel habits to optimise the balance between supply and demand on both the high-speed and mainline networks. Relief trains ran on the lines where demand was highest and CR says that it will continue to schedule stopping trains and regional services to serve passengers travelling to and from more remote areas.
European freight
CR also reports that the amount of freight transported between China and Europe rose by 7.5% in the first quarter of this year. A total of 802 China-Europe freight trains used China’s Erenhot Railway Terminal, on the China - Mongolia border, northwest of Beijing, a record high for this quarter. There were 426 outbound trains from China, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%, and 376 inbound trains, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%.
CR reports that in the 12 months to April 9 the number of trains using the Erenhot Railway Terminal reached 4000. It says that the number of trains and routes operated continues to grow, while efforts continue to balance freight flows, with loaded trains both departing and arriving in China.
