China's railways recorded 118.79 million passenger trips in January, up 23.6 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Railways said on Monday.

Freight volume rose 1.4 percent year-on-year to 267.23 million tons.

The gains came despite disruptions caused by unusually severe winter weather in large parts of the country.

The ministry predicted that in 2008, the railroads would record 1.42 billion passenger trips, with freight volume to exceed 3.31 billion tons.

Total revenue was forecast at 361 billion yuan ($50.4 billion), up 10.2 percent from 2007.

This year's railway ridership peak season runs from January 18 to March 2, when millions of people travel to visit their families and then return to their work locations.