[photopress:China_freight_boxes.jpg,full,alignright]The daily number of loaded freight cars is an important index to the efficiency and economic benefits of railway freight transport. Now we have that clear it becomes important that China saw an all-time high of 119,072 freight cars loaded on May 5. That broke its previous record of 118,761 set on January 1 this year. These are official figures from the Ministry of Railways so we can take them as being correct.
You can work roughly on the basis that goods transported by rail is easing up between 5 and 10% for the same period a year before. Example: in the first five days of this month, 35.38 million tons of cargo was transported by rail in China, up 7.3% from the same period of last year.
It is not just goods. It is also passengers. Of course, the Golden Week idea of holidays may soon be a distant memory but on May 1, the One Day of the Year, China’s railways carried 5.16 million passengers.
The ministry attributed the new highs to the latest round of ‘speed boosts’ on many Chinese railways. If a train goes faster the equation is more passengers get carried further. Railway officials have said the increased speed limit will increase the national railway passenger capacity by 18% and cargo capacity by 12%.
Source: China View