2015 saw a sharp fall in Chinese rail freight

China's rail freight volumes fell by a significant amount last year after the world’s second largest economy recorded its slowest growth rate in 25 years.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) the slow in economic growth has translated into a significant year-on-year decline in rail freight volumes, according to official data.

Overall, volumes fell by 11.9 percent to 3.36 billion tonnes, a further increase on the 2014, slowdown, when traffic declined by 3.9 percent. Measured by tonne-km, freight traffic dropped by 13.7 percent to 2.38 trillion tonne-km.

The decrease has come at a time when China’s passenger railway network continues to grow, with a 10 percent increase in the number of riders recorded in 2015. Air transportation passenger volume rose 10.4 percent year on year.

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SOURCES: [International Railway Journal; China Daily] 

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