BEIJING, Aug. 31 -- China's summer transport peak period ended Thursday, with nearly 600 million of passenger trips made by train this year, according to China Railway Corporation.

The period runs from July 1 to August 31, when students on summer vacation have time to travel or return home.

"During the transport peak, even tickets for business class on high-speed rail, which are much more expensive than standard tickets, were in high demand," said Song Jianguo, an official with Beijing West Railway Station.

One high-speed train departed from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station every two minutes during the peak period.

During the summer, Yangtze River Delta railways recorded 118 million passenger trips, a year-on-year increase of 11.5 percent. Beijing Railway Bureau recorded 60 million during the same period.

Western China's railways have also seen rising passenger numbers. The new high-speed link between Baoji in northwest China's Shaanxi Province with Lanzhou, capital of neighboring Gansu Province, carried 41,100 people on August 12, the most since it started operations on July 9.

"With Baoji-Lanzhou line, the number of passengers from Xi'an to Lanzhou and Xining, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province has increased from last year's 10,000 to 23,000 this year," said Hui Lixia, deputy director of the Xi'an North Station.