The amount of freight carried by China’s railways rose 0.3 per cent year-on-year in July, the first monthly increase in 2009, according to Ministry of Railways figures.

Cargo transportation volume stood at 1.88bn tons in the first seven months of this year, a decrease of 63.23m tons compared with the same period last year. The upturn in July was attributed by Xinhua to growing demand precipitated by the government’s large-scale economic stimulus plan. Investment in railway infrastructure during the first seven months stood at Rmb247.4bn, an increase of 136 per cent from a year earlier.