TMTPOST--Railway passenger trips in China hit a record high of about 2.1 billion in the first half of 2024, a surge of 18.4 year on year, data from the country's railway operator showed Friday. China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. said that during the period, an average of 10,256 passenger trains were operated daily, up 9.4% year on year. The company said it has beefed up its capabilities for transporting cross-border passengers since the beginning of this year. The China-Laos Railway handled about 117,000 cross-boundary passenger trips in first half of the year. The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway reported about 7.59 million passenger trips, up 72.4% from a year earlier. Driven by expanding tourism demands across the country, the group said a total of 789 tourist trains were put into operation in first half of 2024, an increase of 20.3% from the same period last year. ■