This photo taken on October 14, 2024 shows passengers sitting on a high-speed train at the railway station in Laos' Luang Prabang province. Suffocating under a mountain of debt to China, communist Laos is struggling to tame rampant inflation, with food prices rising so sharply that a growing number of households are resorting to foraging. (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP) / To go with 'LAOS-ECONOMY-INFLATION-DEBT,FOCUS' by Thanaporn Promyamyai and Damon Wake
BEIJING: China’s railway network achieved a record-breaking number of trips in the first 11 months of the year, backed by stable economic recovery and a revitalised tourism industry.
According to China State Railway Group Co, the railway sector handled over four billion passenger trips from January to November, the first time this threshold has been reached within a year.
This figure significantly surpasses the 3.86 billion trips recorded for the entirety of 2023 and nearly doubles the 2.2 billion trips in 2020, when travel in China was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The country’s total railway network spans 160,000km, including 46,000km of high-speed railway.
The railway network now covers 99% of Chinese cities with a population of over 200,000 each, and the high-speed railway network covers 97% of cities with a population of over 500,000 each.
China continues to lead the world in railway passenger volume and turnover, according to China Railway.
Yu Fenghui, an economist, said the significance of this record goes beyond transportation, highlighting the railway’s role in boosting tourism and other industries.
This achievement, reflecting robust social mobility, serves as a clear indicator of the positive momentum in China’s broader economic upswing thanks to a string of pro-growth policies.
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which measures sentiment in the manufacturing sector, showed accelerated expansion in November, rising to 50.3 from 50.1 in October, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Retail sales of consumer goods expanded 4.8% year-on-year in October, quickening from the 3.2% increase in September. The index of services production grew by 6.3% year-on-year last month, while total goods imports and exports expanded 4.6% in yuan terms.
The surge in railway passenger transport is also closely linked to the thriving tourism sector in China.
Government policies, including measures to stimulate consumption and the enhancement of China’s visa-free transit policy, have spurred increasing interest from both domestic and international travellers.
During the National Day holiday, for instance, a remarkable 765 million domestic trips were made, marking a 5.9% year-on-year increase, with total tourist spending rising 6.3% to 700.8 billion yuan or about US$96.3bil.
Driven by the travel frenzy, cross-border passenger transport via the railway system also showed significant growth during the first 11 months, with the China-Laos Railway handling 249,000 cross-border passenger trips and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-Speed Railway recording 24.35 million passenger trips with a 37.2% year-on-year increase.
“The booming cultural and tourism industry could play a more important part in upgrading the economy and boosting consumption,” said Miao Muyang, an official with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. — Xinhua
