The freight volume of China’s national railways continued to grow. In the first five months of this year, the freight volume exceeded the 1.6 billion ton mark for the first time, and a total of 1.618 billion tons of cargo were sent, a year-on-year increase of 4.86%. This is a record high for the same period since the establishment of China National Railway Group and its predecessor China Railway Corporation after the revocation of the Ministry of Railways in 2013. China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “National Railway Group”) released a message on June 1 to show the above content.
The cumulative freight volume of China’s railways has broken historical records, and a single month is also a historical extreme. In May, China’s railways sent 340 million tons of goods, an increase of 6.6% year-on-year.
Since the beginning of this year, China’s railway freight volume has not only continued to grow, but the growth rate has continued to increase, and many freight indicators have hit record highs. In the first two months, the first quarter and the first four months of 2022, the growth rates were 0.33%, 2.71% and 4.50% respectively. In the first five months, the year-on-year growth of national railway freight volume hit a new high in nine months.
The average daily loading of China Railways in May was 182,600 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 7.4%, setting a historical record. China’s railways sent 14.7 million tons of grain and fertilizers, a year-on-year increase of 25.4%; and sent 110 million tons of thermal coal, a year-on-year increase of 7%. China’s 363 railway direct power supply plants stored coal for an average of 33.4 days, maintaining a relatively high level.
In May, the China-Europe freight train launched 1,357 trains and sent 129,500 TEUs, with an average daily growth rate of 12% and 13.3%, respectively; the western land-sea new channel freight train sent 78,000 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 20.5%; the China-Laos Railway sent 13.82% of cross-border goods 10,000 tons, an increase of 4.3% month-on-month; the combined iron and water transport volume of major ports was 1.07 million TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 35.1%.
In 2021, China’s railway freight volume will be 3.72 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%; China’s railway passenger volume will reach 2.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%. In 2021, railway passenger flow will recover to 70.69% of the pre-epidemic level.
