China railway passenger trips hit record high in first three quarters

Passengers are seen at Harbin Railway Station in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Oct. 7, 2026. (Photo by Yuan Yong/Xinhua)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's railway network handled 3.71 billion passenger trips in the first three quarters of 2026, up 4.8 percent year on year, the highest for the period, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway).

During the period, the railway network operated an average of 11,511 passenger trains daily, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

Railway departments have actively responded to demand for sightseeing, wellness tours and red-themed study tours, according to China Railway. In the first nine months, a total of 2,860 tourist trains were operated across the country, up 25.5 percent year on year.

The railway network also operated 947 special trains for concertgoers and sports fans during the period, effectively boosting the catering, hotel and cultural tourism sectors.

Cross-border rail travel also continued to grow. The China-Laos Railway carried 265,000 cross-border trips, up 37.8 percent, while the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway handled over 25.8 million cross-border trips, up 11.8 percent, China Railway said.

China Railway also adapted to the inbound travel boom created by the country's visa-free transit policy. The railway network carried over 19 million foreign passenger trips in the first three quarters, up 33.4 percent year on year, the company said.

Behind the steady growth in passenger traffic is China's increasingly dense high-speed rail network.

By the end of 2025, the country's total operating railway mileage had reached 165,000 km, which included more than 50,000 km of high-speed rail.

On Sept. 28, China opened four high-speed rail sections, connecting Xiongan in north China's Hebei Province with Shangqiu in Henan Province in central China, Xi'an with Ankang in Shaanxi Province in northwest China, Yichang with Xingshan in central China's Hubei Province, and Harbin with Yichun in Heilongjiang Province in the country's northeast.

China's high-speed rail network is projected to hit 70,000 km by 2035, featuring eight north-south vertical lines and eight east-west horizontal lines. Once complete, the network will connect major cities, city clusters and key economic zones across the country.