Chinese railways carried 218 million passengers between April 18
to June 18, an increase of 4.7 percent from the same period last
year, said the Ministry of Railways.
China boosted its railway speed for the sixth time on April 18
and 286 trains now run at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour
every day.
The country's railways have had no major accidents during the
two-month speed-boost trial period, the ministry said, adding that
99.9 percent of the trains started on time while 99.3 percent
arrived on time
Meanwhile, rail freight turnover totaled 526 million tons in the
past 60 days, up 7.7 percent from the same period last year.
China plans to put more than 500 high-speed trains into
operation by the end of the year and expects to increase passenger
capacity on the nation's 77,000-km of rail lines by 18 percent and
freight capacity by 12 percent, according to the ministry.
In 2006, China made up a quarter of the world's total railway
transport volume, while its total track was only six percent of the
world's total, said spokesman with the ministry.
Before the first speed boost in 1997, trains could travel at a
maximum speed of 140 kilometers per hour.
According to the ministry, rail passenger turnover hit 662.2
billion person-kilometers last year, 3.8 times the combined figures
of the United States and Russia.
Meanwhile, rail freight turnover reached 2.87 billion tons last
year, about one billion tons more than that of the United States,
which ranked the second.
(Xinhua News Agency June 20, 2007)