SHANGHAI, July 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 218.2 million tonnes of cargo were transported via Daqin Railway, a major coal railway in northern China, in the first half of 2019, down 3.16 percent year on year, according to the railway's operator Daqin Railway Co., Ltd.

In June, the railway transported 35.82 million tonnes of cargo, an annual decrease of 7.78 percent, the company said in a filing to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Last month, an average of 82.9 heavy-haul trains ran daily on the 653-km railway that links the city of Datong in coal-rich Shanxi Province with the port city of Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province.

The railway line connects Shanxi and other coal-rich regions, including Shaanxi and western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with the country's booming east as coal in the port of Qinhuangdao is then shipped to customers in regions including the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas.