CHINA’s Daqin Heavy-Haul Railway has released traffic figures indicating that coal volumes have plateaued ahead of what is expected to be a long-term decline as China works to reduce its carbon emissions. The latest figures show that in 2025 the line carried 390 million tonnes of coal, a decrease of 0.54% compared with 2024.
The company notes that in December 2025 the line carried 34.43 million tonnes of coal, a decrease of 1.68% compared with the same period the year before. A daily average of 1.11 million tonnes was carried on 71 trains, 50 of which had capacity for 20,000 tonnes.
The Daqin Railway is a 653km electrified, double-track line connecting Datong with the port of Qinhuangdao in northern China. Moving coal from mines in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia for export, it currently carries about a fifth of China’s total coal traffic moving by rail.
For an in-depth feature on China’s heavy-haul market, see IRJ November, p34.
