The total number of China-Europe freight train trips has surpassed 90,000 on Saturday, as the 90,000th train departed from Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
To date, the freight trains have transported more than 8.7 million containers of goods to Europe, valued at 380 billion U.S. dollars.
In order to improve the operational efficiency of China-Europe freight trains, the Xi'an international port launched full-time schedule freight train services between Xi'an and German city of Duisburg in cooperation with the China Railway Group and the national railway company of Germany in October 2022.
With priority given to the Xi'an-Duisburg trains, the full-time schedules have effectively shortened the operation time of each link during the train trips.
"The whole journey of the Xi'an-Duisburg domestic and overseas full-time schedule trains takes 12 days, which is five to eight days shorter than common trains. Now, we have achieved a frequency of two departures and one arrival per week. While ensuring transport efficiency, we have also improved transport capacity," said Zhang Xiao, executive deputy general manager of the Xi'an International Landport Multimodal Transport Company.
The Xi'an international port operates 59 train routes and handles 66 million tons of goods per year. It has become the largest rail logistics center in northwest China and an inland hub for China-Europe freight trains.
"Xi'an now runs 17 international China-Europe freight train routes connecting more than 40 countries and regions, as well as 19 domestic routes toward the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and other major sources of goods. More than 300 foreign trade and logistics companies from coastal areas in south and east China and more than 1,000 e-commerce companies have established offices in the city," said Lu Ming, an employee of the Xi'an international port.
In light of the needs for multimodal transport services and digitalized container yards, the Xi'an international port has established a comprehensive management information system to make better operation plans and minimize the operation time.
"In every 100 minutes, a China-Europe freight train departs from or arrives at the Xi'an international port. Now, the Xi'an international port has become the station that runs the most China-Europe freight trains in the country," Lu said.
So far, the China-Europe freight trains have reached 223 cities in 25 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, with the service network covering almost the entire Eurasian continent.
China-Europe freight train trips surpass 90,000
