BEIJING, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The China Railway Group Ltd reported an 18.1 percent increase of net profit in the first half of this year on rising contracts.

During January-June, the value of new contracts rose 13 percent year on year to 634.7 billion yuan (93.34 billion U.S. dollars). Sales revenue reached 316.1 billion yuan, up 5.3 percent from the same period a year ago, according to its latest semiyearly report.

Net profit totaled 12.42 billion yuan.

The company's largest source of revenue comes from infrastructure construction business, according to the report.