BEIJING - A total of 366 million trips were made on Chinese railways during the country's traditional two-month summer travel peak, the latest official data showed.

The figure set a new record for the July 1-Aug 31 period and represented a rise of 15 million trips compared to the corresponding two months last year, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Railways on Friday.

The biggest single-day transportation load was seen on Aug 25, when 6.79 million passengers were carried on trains, according to the data.

The ministry attributed the surge to the increasing number of students returning to schools for the new school year after the summer break.

Meanwhile, new high-speed links between major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan are becoming more popular, and have increased the nation's railway transportation capacities, according to the ministry.