Chinese Railways Earn 57 billion Yuan In First Seven Months

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- China's railway departments earned 57.7 billion yuan (6.89 billion dollars) in the first seven months of 1999, according to the Ministry of Railways.

The Ministry reports that Chinese trains carried a total of 903 million tons of cargo and 571 million passengers during the period.

Statistics indicate a daily average of 2.85 million people were transported in July. Included were 717,000 long-distance journeys, up 17.5 percent from the same period last year.

The amount of containers transported by rail stood at 305,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) or 2.68 million tons.