China's railways carried 1.72 billion people in the first 11 months of the year, up 10.9 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) said Monday.

The figure accounts for 90.5 percent of the ministry's target of 1.9 billion passengers for the year and is slightly slower than the 11.2-percent growth posted in the first ten months.

December will see the start of a slow season for railway travel, but local railway bureaus will still work to reduce the impact of harsh weather, construction and equipment failures as much as possible, the MOR said in a statement.

The country's railways delivered 3.59 billion metric tons of goods in the January-November period, an 8-percent year-on-year increase, the statement said.

Since the beginning of the year, China's trains have transported 2.07 billion metric tons of coal, 123.4 million metric tons of oil, 88.8 million metric tons of grain and 78.1 million metric tons of fertilizer and pesticide, according to the statement.