China's railways transported 1.85 billion tons of cargo in the first half of this year, up 8.9 percent year-on-year, The Paper reported on Friday.

Average daily loading witnessed a 10.2 percent year-on-year increase from 15,500 vehicles to reach 168,000 vehicles in the same period.

Railway transportation has promoted economic development by guaranteeing transportation of key materials, improving container transport levels and making good use of the China-Europe Railway Express and the Western Land-Sea New Corridor Railway Express.

In the first half of the year, China's railways transported 961 million tons of coal, up 12.4 percent year-on-year.

About 12.59 million twenty-foot equivalent units of containers were delivered in the same period, up 29.5 percent year-on-year.

About 7,377 freight trains of the China-Europe Railway Express were operated in H1 this year, up 43 percent year-on-year.

During the same period of time, about 707,000 TEU containers were delivered, up 52 percent on a yearly basis.

Currently, the China-Europe Railway Express covers about 168 cities in 23 European countries and regions.

In terms of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor Railway Express, about 2,705 trains were operated and 269,000 TEU of goods were delivered in H1, up 112 and 319 percent, respectively.

China's railway departments are expected to take green and low-carbon advantages and make more contributions in building a green and low-carbon economic freight network system and the reduction of social logistics costs in the next step, according to China Railway.