The China Europe freight train adds vitality to economic and trade, ensuring stable and smooth operation between China and Europe

Drafted by Zhang Danfeng

The picture shows a China Europe freight train departing from the Lianyungang Railway marshalling yard in Jiangsu.

Photo by Wang Chun

At 10:18 on July 29th, the X8020 China Europe freight train, loaded with 110 TEUs of exported goods, departed from the Yiwu West Railway Station and headed to Madrid, Spain, marking the launch of the 10000th China Europe freight train this year.

From the camel caravan to the steel camel caravan, the roaring and shuttling China Europe freight trains continue to depict the vitality of the ancient Eurasian continent. Since the beginning of this year, the total number of China Europe freight trains has exceeded 10000, sending 1.083 million TEUs of goods, a year-on-year increase of 27%, with both quantity and quality improving.

The Political Bureau meeting of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held on July 24th emphasized the need to ensure the stability and smooth operation of the China Europe freight train. What has been the progress of various regions and departments since the beginning of this year? What further measures will be taken to upgrade software and hardware to ensure that the "steel camel caravan" can reach the river and sea, and connect thousands of miles? The reporter conducted an interview.

The train connects the golden channel

Since the beginning of this year, the China Europe freight train has fully played its role as a major channel, with continuous improvement in service quality and increasingly prominent radiating and driving effects.

——The continuous improvement of transportation capacity helps to promote industrial upgrading and development.

On July 20th, as the whistle sounded, two China Europe express trains loaded with 330 complete vehicles slowly departed from the Tuanjie Village station.

The head of the marketing department of Yuxin Europe Company introduced that in the first half of the year, more than 38000 vehicles were exported by taking the China Europe freight train, a year-on-year increase of 98.9 times.

In order to better serve the export needs of whole vehicle enterprises, Yuxin Ou Company continues to promote the normalization of international intermodal transportation of commercial vehicles and railway transport special vehicles, allowing cars to be directly driven into the train's belly. Compared to traditional container models, a JSQ train can carry 261 complete vehicles, with a capacity increase of over 58% and a cost reduction of 20% per train.

According to data released by China National Railway Group Co., Ltd., the sales of new energy vehicles in China reached 3.747 million units in the first half of 2023; The railway department transported over 475000 vehicles, adding "iron power" to the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry.

——The service network continues to extend, and the radiation effect is becoming increasingly prominent.

Overlooking the Ganzhou International Land Port in Jiangxi from a high altitude, batches of timber are connected in a neat and orderly manner, waiting for loading and transportation. The continuous railway extends in all directions, and the "steel camel caravans" travel endlessly.

After the official launch of the China Europe freight train at Ganzhou International Land Port, the local area has broken through the barriers of mountains and accelerated the pace of integration into the world. Among them, the furniture industry cluster in Nankang has developed rapidly, with its output value increasing from 10 billion yuan before the construction of the port to 250 billion yuan in 2022.

As of the end of June, more than 110 domestic departure cities have reached 216 cities in 25 European countries through the China Europe freight train, injecting a continuous stream of vitality into economic and trade exchanges.

——Customized special trains are constantly being opened up, and the variety of goods is constantly enriching.

On August 7th, a China Europe express cold chain express train was shipped through the Alashankou Port in Xinjiang and is expected to arrive at the terminal station in about 19 days.

According to Gao Yitian, Deputy Station Manager of Jiaozhou Station at Qingdao Depot of China Railway Jinan Bureau Group Company, compared to road cold chain transportation, the China Europe freight train cold chain transportation has a larger volume, longer distance, and more guaranteed efficiency.

According to the data of China Railway Group, the cold chain transportation of China Europe regular trains can not only ship economic crops such as lychees, longans, bananas, pitaya, but also beauty products such as facial mask and lipstick to Europe quickly.

Continuous improvement of infrastructure

In order to fully leverage the advantages of the China Europe freight train, various regions are continuously improving infrastructure construction to enhance the physical fitness of the China Europe freight train.

Upgrade hardware facilities to improve work efficiency——

As the only port on the central route of the China Europe freight train, this year, the Erenhot Railway Port in Inner Mongolia has undergone a major hardware upgrade: the number of wide and standard gauge connecting and departing train lines has increased to 30.

"China's railway adopts international standard gauge, while Mongolia's railway adopts wide gauge. Therefore, after the train arrives at the port, it needs to undergo loading and unloading operations." Yun Zhijun, director of the Erenhot Railway Port Dispatch Workshop, introduced that loading and unloading refers to the use of a gantry to lift containers onto a train on another track. After the addition of wide gauge connecting and departing train routes, 15 trains can be equipped simultaneously, significantly improving the efficiency of port operations by 20%.

This year, Xi'an International Port Station has once again achieved upgrades: the number of cargo loading and unloading routes has increased from 19 to 29, and 12 cargo lines have been renovated to have direct departure functions, increasing loading and unloading capacity by 30%. At this point, Xi'an International Port Station has successfully jumped to become a world-class inland port, with a designed annual container throughput of 5.4 million TEUs and an annual railway freight volume of 66 million tons.

Strengthen hub construction and increase network density——

On March 4th, the China Europe freight train assembly center was officially put into operation. Since the start of construction on October 8, 2022, an additional investment of 52.8 million yuan has been made to build an 80000 square meter customs special supervision area. Currently, this area has become the largest gathering center for China Europe freight trains in Northeast China.

"It's really worry free to ship at the assembly center. The 'railway+customs' operation model not only comprehensively improves customs clearance efficiency, but also greatly shortens the distance of short distance transportation, significantly reducing overall transportation costs." said Wang Jihong, manager of China International Shipping Co., Ltd.

According to data from China Railway Group, as of now, there are 86 China Europe freight trains operating at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, with 6 ports, forming three major channels: east, middle, and west.

Carefully developing a "smart brain"

The China Europe freight train runs continuously.

Behind this is a relay race spanning tens of thousands of kilometers. Starting from the departure station, the China Europe freight train first travels to the railway port and completes procedures such as grouping, reloading, customs declaration, and inspection before departing from the country. On average, a China Europe freight train requires more than 50 drivers to drive, including 3 replacement operations, which take 9 to 18 days.

Faced with a vast network and complex system, the smooth and efficient operation of the China Europe freight train cannot be achieved without the dispatch of a "smart brain".

In 2021, with strong support from the National Development and Reform Commission, China Railway Group began construction of the China Europe freight train information integration platform project. Nowadays, the platform has one portal and four centers.

One Portal is the official unified service window for China Europe freight trains, targeting the domestic and foreign public, providing full logistics business acceptance services both domestically and internationally.

Four centers, including the China Europe freight train data sharing center, operation service center, operation monitoring center, and quality evaluation center.

"Among them, the Operations Service Center provides comprehensive 'one-stop' e-commerce services for domestic and foreign customers, with full process service functions such as online commission, waybill production, and cost settlement. After the platform is launched, users can complete shipping procedures without leaving their homes," said the relevant person in charge of China Railway Container Company.

The successful architecture of the "smart brain" requires upgrading of the "nerve endings".

Entering the Alashankou Railway International Intermodal Transport Building, a ticket delivery worker is handing over the China Europe freight train intermodal transport tickets to the export freight forwarder.

Xu Xingying, an export freight forwarder from the cargo loading workshop at Alashankou Station, introduced that before the launch of the "Digital Port", it would take approximately 40 minutes to input the information of the intermodal transport waybill and bill of lading; Nowadays, it only takes 20 minutes to verify whether the information on the waybill and system is consistent.

It is reported that from June 2020, the national railway ports will fully promote the implementation of the "digital port" system. "At present, the 'Digital Port' system is running well, and agent enterprises can check transportation and arrival information in advance, making it convenient to complete customs declaration, railway flow changes, and other intermodal transportation procedures." The relevant person in charge of China Railway Urumqi Bureau Group Co., Ltd. said that currently, the overall clearance time for China Europe freight trains departing from Alashankou Port has been compressed to less than 5 hours.

Taking multiple measures to ensure stability and smoothness

Looking ahead to the whole year, the upgrading of China Europe freight trains is still ongoing.

Continuous hardware investment——

At present, the construction of the capacity expansion and renovation project at Alashankou Station is in full swing, with dozens of construction machinery swinging their arms to excavate soil and fill the roadbed. The project is planned to be completed by the end of November. At that time, the Alashankou Railway Port will add one indoor replacement warehouse and extend five replacement lines.

At the same time, the construction of the second line project from Jinghe to Alashankou on the Lanzhou Xinjiang Railway is booming on site. After the completion of the project, the number of receiving and dispatching trains in the section from Jinghe to Alashankou can reach 28, and the receiving and dispatching capacity has increased by nearly 55%.

Continuous software upgrades——

On July 9th, the X8008 China Europe freight train, loaded with automotive parts, high-precision electronic instruments, cosmetics, and other goods, slowly entered the Xi'an International Port Station, marking the arrival of the first China Europe freight train with a full domestic and international timetable for the return journey to Xi'an. At present, the two-way route from Xi'an to Duisburg, Germany is encrypted from 1 train per week to 2 trains, with a stable operating time of 12 days.

Excellent service quality——

First photovoltaic special train opened. On August 3rd, the China Europe freight train Shaanxi Ukraine Economic and Trade Cooperation Longji Green Energy Photovoltaic Module Export Special Train was successfully launched. The photovoltaic modules shipped this time will be used for the 1 gigawatt photovoltaic project in Uzbekistan. Next, there will be 59 special trains carrying nearly 3000 containers to assist in the smooth landing of the project.

Ice cream also has dedicated trains. Recently, a batch of imported ice cream arrived at Chengdu International Railway Port on the China Europe freight train. The smooth entry of ice cream cannot be achieved without the assistance of cold chain containers, and it is also the best manifestation of customs clearance efficiency. The customs clearance time has been shortened by 24 hours compared to the past.

Network upgrade continuously updates——

"Land Silk" leads "Sea Silk", and sea rail intermodal transportation reaches more regions. Currently, Xiamen is actively promoting the China Europe freight train sea rail intermodal transportation LCL business. "In the future, bulk cargo from countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam can be transported by sea, gathered at Xiamen Port, and then consolidated and transported to Europe via the China Europe freight train." The person in charge of the Zhangzhou Depot of China Railway Nanchang Group said that this saves nearly two weeks of time compared to the traditional sea freight consolidation model.

The Greater Bay Area - China Jiwu has opened up new channels for multimodal transportation. On July 4th, Guangzhou International Port sent out the "China Kyrgyzstan Ukraine" train. After the train arrived at Kashgar Station in Xinjiang, it will exit from the Irkeshtan Port and eventually reach Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Pan Dongyuan, Director of the Multimodal Transport Department of China Railway Guangzhou Group Corporation, said that the operation of the "Greater Bay Area - China Jiwu" multimodal international freight train has opened up the fourth channel for international transportation of the China Europe freight train, significantly accelerating the speed of goods circulation.

The relevant person in charge of China Railway Group stated that they will actively explore the development of China Europe freight trains crossing the Black Sea and Caspian Sea routes, promote the diversity of overseas channels, and strive to create a transportation service network that extends in multiple directions and connects land and sea.