A total of 3.11 billion railway trips are expected to be made across China this year, a year-on-year increase of 43.7 percent, the country's national railway operator China Railway Corp said on Monday.

Last year, the network handled 2.16 billion passenger trips. Some 3.7 billion metric tons of cargoes are expected to be handled via railway network this year, a rise of 3.4 percent, said Lu Dongfu, general manager of the company, at the company's annual working conference in Beijing.

This year, 3,700 kilometers of new railway tracks will be put into operation, he said.

China's railway network, especially high-speed railway, has seen a rapid development in the recent decade. The country's high-speed railway network has reached 37,900 km, ranking the top in the world.

Last year, 4,933 km of new railway tracks were put into operation, including high-speed railways connecting Beijing and Xiong'an in Hebei province , and linking Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia Hui autonomous region, and Xining, capital of Qinghai province.