In the first quarter, the freight volume of China National Railway continued to grow. A total of 948 million tons of goods were sent, a year-on-year increase of 2.71%, of which 333 million tons were sent in March, a year-on-year increase of 7.42%. On April 5, China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “National Railway Group”) released data showing the above information.
The data shows that the current growth rate of railway freight volume is accelerating. In the first month of 2022, there was a brief decline in railway freight volume. The national railway freight volume was 323 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.4%; the year-on-year growth in the first two months returned to positive, reaching 0.33%.
With the rapid growth of railway freight volume in March, the growth rate of national railway freight volume in the first quarter has exceeded the target value of the annual plan. In 2022, the national railway freight volume target is 3.804 billion tons, an increase of 2.1%, and 24.92% of the annual plan is completed in the first quarter.
In the first quarter, the national railway sent 350 million tons of thermal coal, an increase of 21.54 million tons or 6.5% year-on-year, and the coal storage of 363 railway direct power supply plants across the country remained above 21.7 days. In the first quarter, the railway undertook part of the “transit railway” supply, and sent a total of 43.79 million tons of agricultural materials, a year-on-year increase of 8.8%.
According to the transportation data of the Daqin Railway, the heavy-haul channel of the West-to-East Coal Transportation, the Daqin Line has completed a total of 65.05 million tons of cargo transportation in the first two months of 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 9.10%. Among them, the Daqin Line completed 31 million tons of cargo transportation in February, a year-on-year decrease of 10.01%.
In terms of China-Europe freight trains, 3,630 trains were launched in the first quarter, sending 350,000 TEUs, an increase of 7% and 9% year-on-year respectively; the western land-sea new channel freight trains sent 170,000 TEUs, a year-on-year increase of 56.5%; China-Laos Railway sent 26% of import and export goods tons.
In 2021, the national railway freight volume will be 3.72 billion tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%. Although the railway freight volume has increased year by year, the growth rate has been continuously narrowing. In the past five years (2017-2021), the national railway freight growth rate was 10.1%, 9.3%, 7.8%, 4.07% and 4.0% respectively. It can be seen that the freight increment target in 2022 will continue to narrow, falling within 3%.
China Railway Group stated that at present, freight transportation should coordinate key tasks such as epidemic prevention and control and transportation production and operation, and continue to take cargo replenishment as the general pattern of transportation operations to ensure efficient and smooth transportation of bulk cargo. Fully release the freight capacity, ensure that all the goods should be loaded, maximize the increase in transportation and income, and ensure that both epidemic prevention and production are correct.
In terms of passenger transport, China National Railway Group did not announce the first quarter data. In the first two months of 2022, the national railway sent a total of 356 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 21.8%. The passenger flow in the first two months recovered to 63.12% of the same period in 2019 before the epidemic.
The current overall recovery of railway passenger transport is lower than in 2021. In 2021, the number of national railway passengers will reach 2.53 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%. In 2021, the railway passenger flow will recover to 70.69% of the pre-epidemic level. However, from the point of view of the passenger volume target, the current situation of railway passenger transport is basically consistent with the expectation. In 2022, the national railway passenger volume target is 3.038 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20%.
