China's railways see steady cargo, passenger growth in September

BEIJING - China's railway network reported steady growth in cargo and passenger transport in September, latest data from the China State Railway Group Co Ltd showed.

The country's State-operated railways carried 288.6 million tons of cargo last month, up 6 percent year-on-year, with the average number of daily loaded cargo trains hitting the highest monthly level, according to the company.

China aims to increase its total railway cargo volume by 30 percent from 2017 levels to reach about 4.8 billion tons in 2020.

In September, 288.4 million passenger trips were made, up 3.9 percent year-on-year, with those made on bullet trains growing 10.4 percent year-on-year.

During the three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, which usually sees a travel peak, a daily average of 11.7 million passenger trips were made, up 12.3 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.