China's railway passenger traffic reached a record high in the first half of 2025, handling 2.24 billion passenger trips, a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percent, a senior official with the National Railway Administration said on Monday.

An Lusheng, deputy head of the National Railway Administration, made the statement at a press conference in Beijing, in briefing on China's progress in building a modernized transport infrastructure system during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025).

"In the first half of this year, the national railway system handled a total of 2.24 billion passenger trips, a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percent, a record high in the corresponding period in history," An said.

He attributed the milestone to three key factors.

First, as China's economy continues to improve steadily, the people's travel demand has grown increasingly strong.

Second, along with continued expansion of the scale of the railway network, the number of trains in operation has kept increasing, which makes China's transportation capacity even stronger.

"At present, China's total operational mileage of railway lines has topped 162,000 kilometers, covering 99 percent of the cities each with a population of more than 200,000. In particular, the mileage of high-speed railways has exceeded 48,000 kilometers, covering 97 percent of the cities each with a population of more than 500,000. Since the beginning of this year, more than 11,000 passenger trains are operated daily, handling a total of 17 million passenger trips per day, a 7.5 percent year-on-year increase. 'Traveling across China by high-speed rail' has become a vivid reflection of how ordinary people now enjoy a better life," An said.

Third, the railway transport service quality has kept improving, and the passenger's experience in traveling by train is getting better and better. The high-speed rail network has made travel faster, while mobile payment and online seat selection have made ticket purchase more convenient.