(Yicai) Sept. 1 -- Earnings at China State Railway Group, the state-owned business that runs passenger and freight train services across the country, climbed in the first half amid high demand. The company also further pared its debt ratio.

Net profit rose more than 19 percent to a record CNY1.85 billion (USD275 million) in the six months ended June 30 from a year earlier, the Beijing-based company’s financial report showed today. Operating revenue edged 0.5 percent higher to CNY589 billion (USD87.6 billion).

China's railroads handled 2.35 billion passenger trips in the first half, a year-on-year increase of 5 percent increase and a new record for the period. Passenger traffic hit a fresh single-day high of 24.8 million on May 1, the start of the Labor Day holiday. Freight shipments also rose 1.8 percent to 2.02 billion tons.

Improved business performance also helped strengthen China State Railway's balance sheet, the company said. Its debt-to-asset ratio shrank 0.15 percentage point to 61.83 percent at the end of June from 61.98 percent as of the end of last year.

At its annual work conference earlier this year, China State Railway said it would strive to complete infrastructure investment of CNY520 billion (USD77.4 billion) and put over 2,000 kilometers of new lines into operation this year.

The company further grew its rail network in the first half, with fixed-asset investment reaching CNY363.2 billion, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier. Some 355.2 km of new track entered service, including the Xi’an-Shiyan high-speed link, it added.

Foshan Station on the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang high-speed route opened in July, with the link shortening the commute between the two economic centers of Guangzhou and Foshan in Guangdong province to 18 minutes. The laying of new track continues apace in the second half.

The country’s high-speed railroad network, the world’s largest, will be expanded by about 10,000 km to 60,000 km over the next five years, it was also earlier announced at the work conference.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Tom Litting