BEIJING, Aug. 31 -- China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. said Thursday that it achieved better-than-expected business performance in the first half of 2023.

Revenues grew 19.6 percent to 580.7 billion yuan (about 80.87 billion U.S. dollars) in the first six months.

Passenger volumes surged during the period, with passenger trips more than doubled to 1.69 billion.

Some 1.93 billion tonnes of goods were transported by railways in the first half.

Fixed-asset investment in the railway sector reached 304.9 billion yuan, up 6.9 percent year on year.