Xinhua News | China Europe freight train opens 100000 trains! The ‘Steel Camel Team’ crosses a new milestone

Chongqing, November 15th (Xinhua) – New record! At 10:20 am on the 15th, as the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) departed from Chongqing Tuanjie Village Central Station, the total number of China Europe freight trains operated exceeded 100000.

In March 2011, China’s first China Europe freight train departed from Chongqing, marking the completion of the entire land international trade corridor from China to Europe.

On the New Silk Road, the “Steel Camel Team” has crossed a new milestone: a total of 100000 trains have been operated, with over 11 million TEUs of goods shipped and a value of over 420 billion US dollars; The annual number of trains in operation has increased from 1702 in 2016 to over 17000 in 2023; Connected to 227 cities in 25 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, the service network basically covers the Eurasian continent.

On November 15th, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) departed smoothly. Photo by Tang Yi, Xinhua News Agency reporterOn November 15th, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) departed smoothly. Photo by Tang Yi, Xinhua News Agency reporter

‘Carrying goods’ is stronger——

Opening the 100000 column manifest, there is a wide variety of goods including electronic information products such as laptops, complete vehicles and spare parts for automobiles, mechanical industry parts, household appliances, and more.

From the beginning of the operation of the train, the goods were mainly IT products, to global “carrying goods”, covering more than 50000 types such as clothing, shoes and hats, automobiles and accessories, food, chemicals, mechanical equipment, etc.

On November 15th, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) is waiting to depart. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang ZiyuOn November 15th, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) is waiting to depart. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Ziyu

Logistics is smoother——

The China Europe freight train has become a popular international public product, with smooth and convenient multimodal transportation, smooth and convenient product customs clearance, and rich and thoughtful characteristic services.

Stable operation of 17 domestic and international full timetable China Europe trains every week, with smooth handover of the Chinese, wide gauge, and European sections; More and more customized trains are being opened, bringing prosperity to the Silk Road with characteristic trains such as new energy vehicles, cross-border e-commerce, timber, and tea; The China Europe freight train portal website has been launched, providing a “one-stop” comprehensive service platform that integrates full insurance and cargo information tracking, promoting the improvement of international intermodal transportation quality and efficiency.

On November 15th, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) is waiting to depart. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang ZiyuOn November 15th, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) is waiting to depart. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Ziyu

The deeper the cooperation——

China Europe Express is not only a logistics channel, but also a win-win example of the “the Belt and Road” cooperation.

Through the rugged mountains, local specialty products such as new energy vehicles from Chongqing and furniture from Ganzhou, Jiangxi have gone global; Polish milk, Dutch cheese, Spanish red wine and other jointly built national products can enter the Chinese market more quickly

Thanks to the China Europe freight train, the Chengdu Chongqing region has gathered global resources and developed into an electronic information and new energy vehicle industry base; As an important port city in the China Europe freight train corridor, Erenhot has seen a rapid rise in local warehousing, transportation, freight forwarding and other related service industries

Thanks to the China Europe freight train, Kazakhstan’s agricultural product logistics processing park has formed a linkage with the China Europe freight train, further expanding the scale of agricultural product exports; Duisburg Port in Germany has attracted hundreds of logistics companies to settle in, creating over 20000 job opportunities

“From 0 to 100000 trains, the China Europe Express has accelerated, boosting the high-level opening up of China’s inland areas and creating new development opportunities for the co construction of the country, which has become a vivid example of high-quality co construction of the ‘the Belt and Road’,” said Zhai Kun, a professor at the School of International Relations of Peking University.