Foreign tourists wait to board a high-speed train at Luoyang Longmen Railway Station in Luoyang, Central China's Henan Province, on May 1, 2026.

From January to August, there were 16.683 million foreign passenger trips on China's railway network, up 33.3 percent year-on-year, China State Railway Group Co said on Saturday.

China's railways handled 3.32 billion passenger trips in the first eight months, up 3.9 percent year-on-year and setting a record high for the period.

Railway authorities adjusted to the rising passenger numbers under the visa-free transit policy and smoothed the way for foreign travelers, the state railway operator said.

The authorities also strengthened the organization of cross-border passenger transport, operating international passenger trains between China and Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam and North Korea, effectively supporting cross-border tourism. 

During the January-August period, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong high-speed railway carried 23.41 million cross-border passengers, up 10.7 percent year-on-year, while the China-Laos Railway carried 245,000 cross-border passengers, up 39.1 percent year-on-year. 

Since the beginning of this year, railway authorities have coordinated high-speed and conventional railway resources, dynamically adjusted train operation plans, and continuously improved passenger transport capacity.

During the first eight months, an average of 11,508 passenger trains were scheduled to run each day nationwide, up 5 percent year-on-year.

For railway-tourism integration, railways nationwide operated a total of 2,501 tourist trains during the period, including 1,387 special tourist trains and 1,114 tourist route trains. 

In addition, railway authorities coordinated with local sports events, exhibitions and cultural performances, operating 812 trains such as "concertgoer special trains" and "sports fan special trains," activating the "themed train plus" economy, expanding new consumption scenarios, and effectively driving the development of catering, hotels, culture and tourism along the routes.

Thanks to the implementation of visa-free policies, China has seen continued growth in foreign cross-border travels.

Besides, foreign nationals made nearly 61.29 million trips across China's borders from January through August, up 19.5 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the National Immigration Administration on September 10.

Global Times