China reports record railway traffic as economic recovery drives travel demand

Crew members perform for passengers on a train bound for Luang Prabang, Laos from Xishuangbanna in southwest China's Yunnan Province, April 13, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Jingyi)

China's railway network achieved a record-breaking number of trips in the first 11 months of the year, backed by stable economic recovery and a revitalized tourism industry.

According to the China State Railway Group Co., the railway sector handled over 4 billion passenger trips from January to November, the first time this threshold has been reached within a year.

This figure significantly surpasses the 3.86 billion trips recorded for the entirety of 2023 and nearly doubles the 2.2 billion trips in 2020, when travel in China was severely impacted by the pandemic.

The country's total railway network spans 160,000 kilometers, including 46,000 kilometers of high-speed railway. The railway network now covers 99 percent of the Chinese cities with a population of over 200,000 each, and the high-speed railway network covers 97 percent of cities with a population of over 500,000 each.

China continues to lead the world in railway passenger volume and turnover, according to China Railway.

Yu Fenghui, an economist, said that the significance of this record goes beyond transportation, highlighting the railway's role in boosting tourism and other industries.

This achievement, reflecting robust social mobility, serves as a clear indicator of the positive momentum in China's broader economic upswing thanks to a string of pro-growth policies.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI), which measures the sentiment in the manufacturing sector, showed accelerated expansion in November, rising to 50.3 from 50.1 in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Retail sales of consumer goods expanded 4.8 percent year on year in October, quickening from the 3.2 percent increase in September. The index of services production grew by 6.3 percent year on year last month, while total goods imports and exports expanded 4.6 percent in yuan terms.

The surge in railway passenger transport is also closely linked to the thriving tourism sector in China. Government policies, including measures to stimulate consumption and the enhancement of China's visa-free transit policy, have spurred increasing interest from both domestic and international travelers.

During the National Day holiday, for instance, a remarkable 765 million domestic trips were made, marking a 5.9 percent year-on-year increase, with total tourist spending rising 6.3 percent to 700.8 billion yuan (about 97.5 billion U.S. dollars).

Driven by the travel frenzy, cross-border passenger transport via the railway system also showed significant growth during the first 11 months, with the China-Laos Railway handling 249,000 cross-border passenger trips and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway recording 24.35 million passenger trips with a 37.2 percent year-on-year increase.

"The booming cultural and tourism industry could play a more important part in upgrading the economy and boosting consumption," said Miao Muyang, an official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.