China launches cost-effective cargo express trains

Three freight trains with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour respectively departed from three Chinese cities on Monday, marking the country's official launch of cargo express trains.

One of the expresses departed from Langfang City in north China's Hebei Province with 43 containers, and is going to arrive in Changping Station in south China's Guangdong Province in over 30 hours.

"The route between (Hebei Province's) Guangyang District to (Guangdong Province's) Changping Town stretches 1,750 kilometers. The maximum speed of the train can reach 120 kilometers per hour. We set the price close to that of the road transportation, which is roughly the same," said Zhang Wansheng, deputy director of China Railway Beijing Group's freight transport department.

The cargo express trains mainly travel between economically developed areas, such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

There will be six lines, with all of them using container marshaling.

Clients are able to check the price and available spots of the containers online, and make bookings based on their needs.

"After we book the spot for containers, a fleet of trucks is dispatched to load goods directly at our location. Let's calculate the costs, it saves us about 15 percent in transportation cost," said Hou Bin, a person in charge of a logistics enterprise in Shanghai.

China launches cost-effective cargo express trains

China and Canada are complementary in their resources and the two countries can tap the full potential of their win-win cooperation for their good, former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said in Beijing.

He made the remarks during an exclusive interview with China Media Group (CMG) ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to China.

Carney will pay an official visit to China from January 14 to 17, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

"I hope that the visit of the prime minister of Canada, it will be a new departure in the relation between Canada and China. And because of the turmoil created by the president of the United States, we are looking for diversifying our economy with other nations. And my judgment always said that China and Canada are complementary. You have the people, we have the land, we have the resources, and we have some people, too. So, we can help each other to grow in peace and prosperity," he said.

Regarding how to resolve differences, Chretien said dialog is always the best way out.

"I believe in dialog. If we have disagreement, we have to talk about it. But at the end, every nation is a sovereign nation. So, we have to respect that, too. It's internal decision by the people of China to decide the future of China like it is for the Canadians to decide the future of Canada," he said.

China, Canada should leverage complementarity for mutual benefit: former Canadian PM