BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- After a year of operation, China's Fuxing bullet trains have become a popular transportation choice for Chinese travelers, data showed.

By June 26 this year, about 41.3 million passenger trips had been made via Fuxing bullet trains, with the highest single-day seat occupancy rate of 97.6 percent, the China Railway Corporation (CRC) said.

Entirely designed and manufactured in China, the Fuxing, or Rejuvenation, debuted on the Beijing-Shanghai line on June 26, 2017. The trains are more spacious, reliable and energy-efficient and have a longer service life than previous models.

The maximum speed of the trains increased to 350 kph between Beijing and Shanghai on Sept. 21, 2017, cutting the journey between the Chinese capital and the country's major financial hub to 4 hours and 28 minutes.

Over the past year, the average occupancy rate of the Fuxing bullet trains on the Beijing-Shanghai route reached 94 percent, 17.5 percentage points more than other models running on similar routes, according to the CRC.

The Fuxing bullet trains will be put into wider use on more routes starting this July, connecting 23 major cities with more frequency, the CRC said.