Storyline: China's national railway sets freight volume record in first seven months [Voice_over] New data from the China State Railway Group shows an increase in freight shipping in the first seven months of the year, reaching an historic 2.33 billion tons of cargo. According to the information, the figure represents a more than 3 percent increase from the same period last year and is a record for the firm. Other recent statistics show that freight trains moving between China and Central Asia made more than 8,500 trips, a 23 percent growth year on year. Part of that success is due to incentives rolled out by the railway group to help struggling logistics firms. Things like "freight loans" - a line of credit backed by the railway. So far, the program has extended roughly 3 billion U.S. dollars-worth of loans to logistics firms from across the country. [Sound_bite] Li Yanbiao, manager, logistics company: "I used our previous railway shipping records to secure a credit line of 700,000 U.S. dollars from China Construction Bank. This program has effectively eased our working capital pressure." [Voice_over] The group's official data also shows that since January, a crucial land-sea route connecting the country's western regions to Southeast Asian trading partners and to Eurasia saw a more than 75 percent increase in traffic year on year. [Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland]