The Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway, China's busiest high-speed rail, has handled 1.03 billion passenger trips as of Sunday, which marked the eighth anniversary of its operation, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Since its opening on June 30, 2011, the average seat occupancy rate on the line has increased from less than 67 percent to over 78 percent now, and the annual growth of passenger trips has amounted to more than 20 percent on average, Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co Ltd was quoted as saying.

The railway route connects the two economic circles of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta region. The maximum operation speed of the line is 350 kilometers per hour at present.

As of the end of last year, the total length of China's high-speed railways rose to 29,000 km, more than two-thirds of the world's total.