Home>>
Hitting 10,000 trips in less than 200 days, China-Europe freight train service witnesses accelerated development(Xinhua) 08:04, July 29, 2024
BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Earlier this month, with the sound of a long whistle, a China-Europe freight train slowly departed from Wujiashan Station in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province. Fully loaded with 55 containers of textiles, medical supplies, electronic products and other goods, the train set off on its westward journey to Duisburg, Germany, thousands of miles away.
This trip marks a significant milestone. As of July 10, this year's China-Europe freight train trips had surpassed 10,000, breaking the mark 19 days earlier than last year.
According to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd (China Railway), the freight train service network currently reaches 224 cities in 25 European countries and connects over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, covering almost the entire Eurasian continent. Moreover, the trains have transported more than 1.08 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers of goods this year, up 11 percent yearly.
These achievements testify to the trips' increasing efficiency and volume, profoundly impacting international trade and logistics.
An aerial drone photo taken on April 8, 2024 shows staff members loading vehicles onto a JSQ freight train at Harbin international container center station in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao)
INLAND GATEWAYS
Launched in 2011, the China-Europe freight rail transformed land transportation between China and Europe. The inaugural journey covered 11,000 km from Chongqing, China, to Duisburg, Germany, in just 16 days. This success prompted the expansion of routes, connecting Chinese cities like Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Yiwu to European destinations such as Warsaw, Madrid, London and Moscow.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), introduced in 2013, bolstered the China-Europe freight train service. The initiative seeks to enhance trade and connectivity between China and countries along the ancient Silk Road, including Europe. Consequently, the China-Europe freight train service has become a critical part of the BRI, facilitating trade and fostering economic ties between the two regions.
A drone photo taken on May 5, 2024 shows a China-Europe freight train waiting to depart from the Tuanjiecun Station in the Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Huang Wei)
Previously, coastal cities dominated trade due to their proximity to seaports. However, with the advent of the China-Europe freight train service, inland cities have emerged as essential logistics centers and trade gateways. This connectivity has opened up new business opportunities in these cities, attracting foreign investment, promoting international trade and driving economic development.
Xi'an, the capital city of Shaanxi Province in northwest China, has become a key hub for BRI and the China-Europe freight train service. As the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, Xi'an has become a vital node linking Asia and Europe.
Despite its location in China's heartland, Xi'an has become a critical assembly center. In just 10 years since the Xi'an route was launched in 2013, the number of trains the city operated has grown significantly, from 46 in the inaugural year to over 5,300 in 2023.
Today, the Xi'an International Port Station operates 18 regular international routes, including destinations in Almaty in Kazakhstan, Tashkent in Uzbekistan and Hamburg in Germany. It crosses the Caspian Sea before heading west. These routes cover the entire Eurasian continent, connecting Xi'an to major international trade hubs.
According to China Railway, the Xi'an route operated 2,372 trains from January to June this year, marking a growth of 13.1 percent year-on-year. The number of containers transported reached 250,000 TEUs, a 10.4 percent increase.
This sustained growth exemplifies the economic vitality unleashed by the Eurasian "golden corridor," elevating inland cities like Xi'an to the forefront of China's opening-up.
Customs data indicates that in 2023, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Jiangsu were the top three provinces with exports utilizing Xi'an China-Europe freight trains, while Shaanxi, Liaoning and Fujian dominated imports.
"In previous years, coastal provinces in the eastern region typically held the top rankings, while Shaanxi ranked around seventh or eighth," said Cui Ying, director of the statistics and analysis department of Xi'an Customs. However, in recent years, the China-Europe freight train (Xi'an) has become increasingly integrated with local industries and enterprises in Shaanxi, resulting in significant economic benefits for the region. Many local companies in Xi'an have achieved impressive export results through the China-Europe freight train, Cui said.
This photo taken on May 29, 2024 shows a view of the load-transfer yard of Horgos Port in Horgos, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)
INCREASED CONNECTIVITY
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the connectivity of China-Europe freight trains.
In response to the increasing demand for rail transport between China and Europe, the China-Europe freight train service has undergone substantial network expansion and service upgrades.
