BEIJING, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's total volume of railway freight transportation in the first eight months this year was 2.17 billion tonnes, down 2.9 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said Tuesday.

    The decline rate of freight transportation in the first eight months was 0.4 percentage points less than that in the first seven months, said the ministry. In the first half of the year, the decrease rate was 4 percent.

    Meanwhile, total passenger transportation numbers stood at 1.05billion in the first eight months, up 5.3 percent year on year.

    Data from the MOR also showed total investment in railway construction surged to 294.12 billion yuan in the first eight months, rocketing up 113.9 percent over the same time last year in the wake of the 4 trillion yuan stimulus package announced by the central government last November to boost the country's economy.