The volume marked an annual increase of 9.4 percent, with an average of 9.74 million trips made each day, and all time high.

The record was made during the summer travel peak from July 1 to August 31.

In China, summer holidays for students usually last from early July to the end of August, driving up passenger flows.

Rail freight volume also recorded fast growth in August, according to the NRA.

Railways carried nearly 250 million tonnes of cargo last month, up 11.5 percent year on year, but down from 17 percent growth in July.

Rail freight is an important indicator of economic activity, along with electricity consumption and lending.

China's economy expanded 6.9 percent for the first half of 2017. In light of the strong data and expectations of continued fiscal support, the IMF in July revised up China's growth forecast for 2017 and 2018 to 6.7 percent and 6.4 percent respectively.