China's railways handle 2.35b tons of cargo in Jan-July

BEIJING -- China's state railways handled 2.35 billion tons of cargo in the first seven months of 2026, up 0.7 percent year-on-year, providing reliable support for reducing logistics costs and ensuring stable economic operations, the railway operator said Wednesday.

The average daily freight loading stood at 187,000 wagons, an increase of 2.1 percent from the same period last year, according to the China State Railway Group Co Ltd.

The railway sector gave priority to the transport of key goods essential to the national economy and people's livelihoods, ensuring fast and efficient delivery. During the January-July period, 1.22 billion tons of coal were shipped, including 813 million tons of thermal coal.

The operator tailored logistics solutions to leading grain, chemical and textile enterprises. As a result, grain transport rose 7.4 percent, chemicals 5.4 percent and textiles 21.4 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the railway sector deepened reform and innovation to develop multimodal transport. A total of 165 "single-document" rail-water intermodal products were launched, with bookings reaching 71,600 TEUs, pushing containerized rail-water transport volume up 9.2 percent. Rail-road intermodal volume surged 80.9 percent to 294 million tons, supported by the development of premium rail-road routes.

Working with the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives, the group innovated a consolidated cotton transport model and operated 96 special trains for Xinjiang cotton in the first seven months, driving cotton transport volume up 157.3 percent year-on-year.

From January to July, China-Europe freight trains made 12,988 trips, an increase of 17.6 percent, while China-Central Asia freight trains reached 8,582 trips, edging up 0.7 percent.