China-Europe freight train sees both network expansion and quality upgrade

In the bright and warm spring weather, activity was in full swing inside the integrated operations room at Alashankou Station, part of China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd. Phones rang frequently as dispatchers issued orders. Dispatchers worked intently to prepare train schedules and organize on site operations in an orderly fashion.

Inside the station's container transshipment warehouse, a China-Europe freight train that had arrived from Duisburg, Germany, loaded with general merchandise and auto parts, was waiting to be transferred to different gauge rail. It would soon head to its destination to meet production and living needs.

As a key port on the western corridor of China-Europe freight train services, the busy Alashankou Station is a vivid example of the strong performance and widespread popularity of the service.

Data from China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. showed that in the first quarter of this year, railway authorities continued to deepen domestic and international coordination and cooperation, strengthened the organization of China-Europe freight train services, and improved the quality and efficiency of cross-border logistics services. A total of 5,466 China-Europe freight trains were operated, carrying 546,000 TEU of goods, up 29 percent and 22 percent year-on-year respectively, indicating a positive trend of both volume and quality improvement.

Since the beginning of this year, the China-Europe freight train network has been further expanded. Railway authorities have designated 93 scheduled routes for China-Europe freight trains within China and actively developed diversified overseas corridors, offering customers a wider range of cross-border logistics options. Currently, China-Europe freight train services reach 235 cities in 26 European countries, with coverage basically spanning the entire Eurasian continent.

In terms of customs clearance efficiency, railway authorities have optimized port transport organization and improved train handover capacity. Working closely with customs authorities, they have fully promoted the railway express clearance model and made good use of the digital port system on the 95306 freight service platform to continuously improve customs clearance facilitation. Port clearance time has been reduced to as little as 30 minutes. In the first quarter, the number of China-Europe freight train services on the western, central and eastern corridors increased by 19 percent, 26 percent and 49 percent year-on-year respectively.

For example, since the start of this year, Alashankou Station has focused on key areas such as train arrivals and departures on both standard and broad gauge tracks, shunting operations, cargo transshipment, and customs clearance and inspection. It has broken away from the traditional sequential operation model and shifted toward parallel operations. Through systematic optimization, overall non essential operation time has been reduced by 25 percent compared with before, significantly improving operational efficiency.

"We have also maintained close coordination with the railway authorities in Kazakhstan to jointly improve our ability to handle train arrivals and departures on both standard and broad gauge tracks, ensuring seamless cross-border transport and guaranteeing the safe and on time departure of every freight train," said Chen Zhibin, director of the operations depot at Alashankou Station.

On this basis, railway authorities have further optimized logistics products. They now operate 22 China-Europe freight trains per week on fully scheduled services, connecting nine cities in China and six in Europe. Total travel time has been reduced by more than 30 percent compared with regular China-Europe freight trains on the same routes, while the average value per container has increased by 41 percent, making the service widely popular in the international logistics market.

At the same time, railway authorities have developed an international rail truck intermodal product based on railway multimodal transport bills of lading. This product is suitable for end to end international rail truck intermodal transport between China and neighboring countries without railway ports, as well as cross-border multimodal transport combining railway trains with truck connections.

With railway logistics enterprises acting as the end to end transport operators, the service offers a single bill of lading, convenient settlement, more flexible customs clearance models, more reliable transport times, and fully traceable information, providing a safe, reliable, stable and efficient new option for cross-border logistics.

On April 10, the 10th plenary meeting of the China-Europe Freight Train Transport Coordination Committee released the China-Europe freight train high quality development index. The index was developed by the Transport Economics Research Institute of the China Academy of Railway Sciences and is published monthly on the China-Europe freight train portal website. The index scientifically reflects the overall performance and trends of China-Europe freight train operations. It helps various participants gain a dynamic understanding of the latest coverage, transport times, port capacity and safety levels of the service.

The safe, stable, healthy and orderly operation of the service has further enhanced the market competitiveness of the China-Europe freight train as an international logistics brand, injecting new vitality into China-Europe trade and the economic and social development of regions along the routes.

"Thanks to fast shipping processes and efficient customs clearance services, our transport efficiency has improved significantly," said Tong Yancai, business manager of Alashankou Zhengmao International Freight Forwarding Co., Ltd. "Our freight volume in the first quarter increased by more than 30 percent, giving us greater confidence in the stability of the Asia-Europe logistics corridor."

It is learned that in the next steps, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. will focus on serving the high-quality development of the Belt and Road cooperation. It will fully leverage domestic and international coordination mechanisms, enhance transport capacity, strengthen the development of diversified corridors and improve service quality. The goal is to promote the development of China-Europe freight train services toward higher quality, better efficiency and greater safety, providing safe, high quality and efficient international logistics services to customers both at home and abroad.

(Source: Economic Daily, Reporter: Qi Hui)