The 62 day railway summer transport in 2026 has officially come to an end. The national railway system has simultaneously completed the core task of ensuring energy supply while ensuring peak cross regional passenger travel, delivering stable power supply to power grid hubs in various cities across the country. This dual transportation guarantee covering nearly two months has laid a solid foundation for the country to smoothly pass the summer electricity peak.

The transportation volume of summer thermal coal reached 224 million tons

During the summer transportation period from July 1st to August 31st, the national railway has sent a total of 224 million tons of thermal coal, and 375 railway direct power plants across the country have maintained a stable coal storage period of over 20 days. During the summer transportation period, the average daily loading of railway thermal coal in China was 73200 vehicles, an increase of 4.2% compared to the same period in 2025. The total amount of railway thermal coal transported from the four major coal producing areas of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang was 178 million tons, accounting for 79.5% of the total railway thermal coal sent in China.

During the same period, the national railway has sent a total of 954 million passengers, and the total amount of goods sent by the national railway has reached 680 million tons. Against the backdrop of the double peak of passengers and goods, the transportation capacity of electric coal has not been squeezed and has remained stable at a high level.

Upgrading the efficiency of passenger and freight coordination and scheduling

After the implementation of the new railway timetable on July 1, 2026, the daily average operation scale of cross bureau freight trains has increased to 1020, an increase of 7.2% compared to before the timetable adjustment, providing planned transportation capacity support for key materials such as summer transportation of electricity and coal. Under the dual pressure of concentrated passenger travel and peak electricity consumption in summer, the national railway system has dynamically adjusted the allocation of transportation capacity through precise scheduling of passenger and freight line resources. This not only ensures the cross regional travel needs of the public during the summer transportation period, but also maintains the bottom line of energy supply, and there has been no shortage of coal storage in some regional power plants. Keywords: cross bureau freight train, electric coal transportation

This 62 day summer transportation test once again verified the strong dispatching capability of China's railway system for passenger and freight coordination, and accumulated more mature operational experience for energy transportation guarantee during key periods such as peak season and winter.Editor/Cheng Liting