China rail freight volume grows 3 pct in H1

China’s national railways transported approximately 1.98 billion tons of cargo in the first half of 2025, marking a three percent year-on-year increase, China State Railway Group said on Sunday.

The national rail network transported 1.02 billion tons of coal in the six months including 695 million tons of thermal coal.

The transport volume of mining and construction materials, smelting materials and grain grew by 19.7 percent, 8.6 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.

China State Railway Group signed contracts for logistics general contracting service worth 1.22 billion tons of freight in total in the first half of the year, facilitating rail water intermodal transportation.

More than 8.25 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) were transported through the country's rail-water intermodal transport channels, a year-on-year growth of 18.1 percent.

The China-Europe freight trains remained stable operation, with 7,349 freight trains running between China and Central Asian countries, a 25 percent increase year on year.

The China-Laos Railway transported 3.029 million tons of cross-border goods, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent, which effectively promoted international economic and trade exchanges.