Ten Years of China-Europe Railway Express: New Achievements on the Modern

In 2011, driven by national regional policies and the demand to serve the trade between China and Europe, Chongqing took the lead in opening a direct train to Europe, which was then called "Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe" International Railway.

Since then, Chongqing's export-oriented economy has experienced an average annual growth of 30%, more than half of the world's top 500 enterprises have settled in Chongqing, and the volume of foreign trade containers handled by Tuanje Village port has increased by more than 10% annually. Chongqing, which is located in the hinterland of China, has gradually become a transit station for China's exports to Europe, boosting Chongqing's transformation into an inland international logistics and trade hub.

Over the past decade, the annual number of China-Europe freight trains has grown from less than 20 to more than 12,000, with a total of 33,600 trains, carrying nearly 3 million TEUs of containers and more than 160 billion US dollars worth of goods. The time of China-Europe freight train is one third of sea freight, and the price is one third of air freight, which is its advantage.

In the past two years, the freight train load rate has reached 100% for outbound trips and about 50% for return trips. At present, the speed of the freight trains has reached 1,300 kilometers per day, and it only takes 58 hours to travel the domestic section, shortening the whole journey time by 12 to 20 percent compared with the earlier period.

During the epidemic last year, Kenya sent 9.39 million anti-epidemic supplies to more than 20 countries in Europe.

Since freight trains do not involve cross-border movement of people, they serve as a powerful substitute for shipping and air freight, a vital channel for international cooperation in fighting the epidemic, and play a positive role in stabilizing the international supply chain and facilitating the resumption of work and production.

Meaning:

The opening of the China-Europe freight train has promoted the utilization of the logistics network in the landlocked countries of Europe, provided new transportation channels for European businesses, and also made local products have a wider market.

For China, the freight train makes inland cities "coastal", promotes the industrial upgrading of inland cities such as Chongqing, and is a new highland of opening up.

The future:

In the future, how will the China-Europe freight train more efficiently utilize its potential?

Insiders believe that the development of China-Europe freight trains has gone through three periods. In the first period, it was export-driven. Like the original Chongqing, participate in the international supply chain production capacity cooperation. The second period is driven by volume and scale. Outbound traffic increased, but the return empty container rate contradiction highlighted. The third period is driven by new trade. To ease the imbalance between delivery and arrival, the freight trains have started to introduce new services of transportation and trade integration, which will play a positive role in promoting the trade balance between China and Europe.

In the future, the freight trains will make efforts in information interchange, data conversion, rule system, document circulation and other aspects, so as to carry out more efficient interchange and give full play to the potential of the freight trains.