DESPITE steady growth in freight capacity, China's railway system is finding it difficult to meet the 35 per cent increase in demand in recent times for space on railcars, a Chinese railway official told the Xinhua news agency.

According to Xinhua, statistics from railway departments show that daily requests for freight cars have increased by an average of 50 per cent in the first quarter.

"The railway freight system is under increasing pressure. Quite a number of trunk lines have been operating at full or above capacity," Wu Qiang, director of the freight bureau of China's Ministry of Railways, said in Beijing on May 3.

Mr Wu said most sections of the Beijing-Guangzhou and Lanzhou-Lianyungang railways are at above 90 per cent of their capacity, or 100 per cent in a number of sections.

The demand on the Beijing-Shanghai railway has exceeded capacity by 50 per cent, the report said.