What drives Xinjiang railway's freight volume and quality growth

Shiliuyun-Xinjiang Daily (Reporter Lu Fengbao) news: In the early hours of July 18, 2026, the X8588 cold-fresh express for outbound Xinjiang fruits, loaded with Xinjiang specialty agricultural products, such as grapes and Hami melons, departed from Urumqi Sanping Station bound for Xi'an International Port Station in Xi'an. This marked the official launch of the first "China Railway Cold Fresh Express" train product in the country.

File photo shows workers hoist cargo onto the first cold-fresh express for outbound Xinjiang fruits in China. (Photo by Yang Zhiming)

In the first half of this year, based on its strategic positioning as the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, Xinjiang railway authorities have innovated their transport concepts, shifting from waiting for cargo at stations to visiting markets to attract business, from single trunk-line transport to full-process integrated logistics, and from bulk cargo dominance to coordinated growth across diverse freight categories. Freight volume has steadily increased, the structure has been continuously optimized, and service capabilities have been comprehensively upgraded. Both volume and quality have achieved dual improvements, laying a solid transport capacity foundation for Xinjiang's economic and social development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030).

Deepening services to activate the market

In the first half of the year, Xinjiang railway freight volume reached 123 million tons, up 4.2 percent year on year. Behind this steady growth lies the continuous refinement of service approaches.

Guided by market demand and focusing on enterprise needs, Xinjiang railway authorities have implemented operational mechanisms, shifting from transporting to logistics, as well as a more proactive marketing approach and a service-oriented model. They have further improved their market-oriented, networked marketing system, actively expanded total logistics contracting and contract-based transport services, and provided proactive, targeted services to continuously stimulate vitality in the freight market.

File photo shows workers hoist cargo onto a cottonseed special train. (Photo by Fu Yixiang)

Deepening strategic cooperation has stabilized the foundation of bulk cargo supply. Xinjiang railway authorities have continuously strengthened regular cooperation mechanisms with key mining, energy, and agricultural enterprises within the region, promoting contract-based transport, mutual volume guarantees, and balanced peak and off-season models to precisely lock in stable cargo sources. In 2025, they held a strategic cooperation enterprise and logistics contracting signing ceremony for the 2025 to 2026 period, securing contracted transport volumes of 204 million tons, laying the groundwork for this year's freight volume growth.

Xinjiang's railway sector has introduced new service models and rolled out end-to-end logistics contracting services. To address pain points, such as cumbersome traditional freight procedures, poor coordination, and high costs for enterprises, Xinjiang railway authorities have fully rolled out a new logistics contracting model, integrating the entire chain of cargo sourcing, warehousing, loading and unloading, trunk-line transport, and last-mile delivery to provide enterprises with a one-stop logistics solution featuring "single commission, full-process handling, and one bill of lading."

Actively promoting the multi-modal transport models of one bill of lading and one container. By breaking down barriers between railways, highways, ports, and customs, they have achieved information connectivity, process integration, and service coordination, significantly reducing cargo transit and customs clearance times, effectively solving the problems of difficult coordination, low efficiency, and high costs in cross-border logistics and long-distance transport. At the same time, they have regularly organized backhaul transport‌ for scattered cargo to make full use of idle capacity, balancing bulk and small-lot logistics needs to maximize cargo utilization.

Deepening institutional and structural reforms to drive the transformation from traditional freight to modern logistics. Since the start of this year, Xinjiang railway authorities, together with the national railway system, have established logistics business divisions, optimized, reorganized, and integrated the functions of the Freight Department and the 95306 freight service platform of China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd., further streamlining the logistics organization chain, stimulating market vitality, improving service quality, and effectively enhancing core competitiveness.

Unlocking potential and increasing capacity

Transport capacity is the core support for freight growth. Since the start of this year, Xinjiang railway authorities have focused on the existing network, continuing to tap internal potential and expand external capacity. Through scientifically optimized operations, increased train loads, more frequent trunk-line services, and full activation of network-wide capacity, they have comprehensively unleashed the transport potential of the railway network, breaking through trunk-line capacity bottlenecks and turnover efficiency constraints, achieving sustained capacity expansion and steady improvements in transport efficiency.

Coal plays the role of the anchor in the freight industry. In the first half of the year, Xinjiang's coal transport volume to other provinces reached 49.65 million tons, up 8.5 percent year on year.

To fully ensure energy supply, Xinjiang railway authorities have actively leveraged the information-sharing advantages of the coal and power enterprise alliance, refined tailored transport capacity guarantee plans for each enterprise, strictly implemented peak and off-season mutual guarantee mechanisms, increased the proportion of heavy-haul trains, organized cross-bureau freight trains and bulk direct trains, established 36 cross-bureau coal circular transport routes, and precisely formulated loading guarantee plans to ensure coal is loaded fully and transported without delay.

"We are closely monitoring key coal transport projects, dynamically tracking the coal needs of six major power enterprises, actively exploring port-based coal forward depots and road-to-rail projects, expanding the flow directions of Xinjiang coal transport, and successfully promoting the implementation of 60 coal road-to-rail projects covering 68 destinations. We have also expanded loading to destinations in the southwest, promoting steady growth in Xinjiang coal transport volume and providing transport capacity support for national energy security," said Liu Menglu, manager of the Coal Logistics Department of the Logistics Business Division of China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd.

Meanwhile, Xinjiang railway authorities have prioritized key projects with short cycles and quick returns, concentrating superior resources to implement capacity expansion and renovation projects to break through bottlenecks. On May 20, 2026, the capacity expansion project on the Aksu-Bachu section of the Southern Xinjiang Railway achieved significant progress, with eight newly built passing loops fully operational, increasing the daily number of passenger and freight trains to 30 pairs and significantly enhancing the line's transport capacity.

Special trains operating at full capacity

File photo shows "Xuelian Express" cotton train departs from Kuitun Station in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Photo by Wang Liansheng)

On June 17, 2026, a "Xuelian Express" cotton train loaded with 1,702 tons of cotton departed from northwest China's Xinjiang for central China's Hubei Province, marking the successful launch of the country's first Xinjiang-Hubei cotton express train.

"We adopt a cargo consolidation method of aggregating scattered orders and grouping containers into trains. For cargo heading to the same destination, we implement centralized booking and prioritize train-based transport, offering stable train products with fixed destinations, fixed schedules, and fixed train numbers. This consolidates scattered small orders into large-scale volumes, reducing the cargo consolidation cycle by over 60 percent and effectively improving the organizational efficiency and scale of cotton transport," said Zheng She, deputy manager of the Kuitun Business Department of the Urumqi Railway Logistics Center, China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd.

This year, on the foundation of stable bulk freight, Xinjiang railways authorities have fully expanded the high-value general cargo market, continuously strengthening logistics for e-commerce, cold-chain fresh produce, light industrial products, and mechanical equipment. Adhering to the principle of operating all possible special trains, they have regularly launched special trains for rural revitalization, cold-chain preservation, e-commerce express, and agricultural supply security, promoting the development of all cargo categories and meeting customers' diverse shipping needs.

In addition to launching a number of brand trains, they have newly created a transport model combining "Xuelian Express" cotton trains with general cargo consolidation trains, continuously improving the operational quality of multi-modal and other special train services.

"To enhance the operational quality of the 'Xuelian Express — Silk Road E-commerce' trains, we adopt a fixed model of one train per day with punctual operation, monitoring the entire process from cargo organization and online booking to loading and unloading, controlling the total transport time to about 36 hours with a punctuality rate of 90 percent. This has achieved a shift from smoothly going to efficiently running fast for Xinjiang's specialty agricultural product transport," said Ma Qiang, deputy manager of the Production Organization Department of the Logistics Business Division of China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd.

Embarking on a new journey with practical action and standing at the new starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, Xinjiang railway authorities will continue to pursuing high-quality development, optimize service systems, tap transport potential, and upgrade transport structures, injecting lasting momentum into the high-quality regional economic development.

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