China-Europe freight trains have made a cumulative 130,000 trips and transported goods with a total value exceeding 520 billion U.S. dollars, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway).
The 130,000th milestone trip was marked by the departure of a freight train on Saturday from Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province, heading to Hamburg, Germany.
The freight train, loaded with goods including monitor stands, laminate flooring, and furniture, with a total value of approximately 19 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars), departed from Putian Station in Zhengzhou. It will travel westward along the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway, exit China through the Alataw Pass, and is expected to arrive in Hamburg in about 16 days.
It is also the 333rd China-Europe freight train departing from Zhengzhou so far this year, highlighting the steadily improving efficiency of the China-Europe Railway Express.
"When the China-Europe Railway Express began operations, we only had eight reserve drivers per day, and we dispatched just one train a month. Now, we run up to six trains daily. We have assigned 16 dedicated shunting drivers to meet the increased transport demands," said Gu Fengshou, a driver with the Zhengzhou locomotive depot of China Railway Zhengzhou Group Co., Ltd.
While freight volume has grown, the transportation costs for the China-Europe Railway Express, both within and outside China, have dropped by more than 40 percent from the early stages of operation. The trains now carry goods of 53 different categories, encompassing over 50,000 types of products.
Outbound shipments have been upgraded from low-value goods like clothing, footwear, and small commodities to high-value products like new energy vehicles, machinery and equipment, and electronics.
On the return journeys, European timber, paper pulp, specialty agricultural products, and daily consumer goods are brought into the Chinese market via the railway.
At China-Europe Railway Express import goods supermarkets in Zhengzhou, over 3,000 kinds of European products -- including French wine, Belgian chocolate, and German cookware -- are available for one-stop shopping.
"We have lately updated more than 200 kinds of products in popular categories including cosmetics, daily chemical products, beverages, and food. German beer, French cosmetics, and British household chemical products have become everyday items," said Ruan Ying, a store manager of the Jingguang Road Branch of China-Europe Railway Express import goods supermarket.
Behind the ever-increasing freight volume lies closer trade ties along the entire China-Europe Railway Express route, which depends on robust cargo safety during transit.
"We have developed and promoted the use of electronic seals, which enable full-trip tracking and breach alerts for cargo transported on the China-Europe Railway Express. We have also creatively applied specialized equipment like temperature-controlled reefer containers, bulk bags for 40-foot containers, and auto containers. This has improved our capacity to transport special goods, effectively expanding the variety of items we can carry," said Wang Yanbo, logistics official of the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.
Currently, 129 cities across China have launched China-Europe Railway Express services, which reach 235 cities in 26 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, covering nearly all of the Eurasian continent.
China-Europe freight train trips hit 130,000
