Ten years of deep cultivation in connecting Asia, Europe, and China Europe freight trains, polishing the business card of openness

On June 22nd, the steam whistle sounded at the Tuanjie Village Central Station in Chongqing, and the China Europe Railway Express (Chengdu Chongqing) X8013 train, loaded with 182 "Chongqing made" cars, set off for the Vorsino Station in Russia.

For the first time, the entire train of the China Europe freight train adopts a newly put into use 40 foot 35 ton General Motors container, which significantly improves the efficiency of automobile transportation, "said Guan Yu, the marketing manager of China Railway Container Chengdu Branch. The container size accurately adapts to the railway clearance of major countries along the China Europe freight train, and can smoothly connect various transportation modes such as railway, highway, and sea transportation.

2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the unified branding of China Europe freight trains. In June 2016, the unified brand of China Europe freight trains was officially launched, with the first batch of trains departing simultaneously from eight cities including Chongqing, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, and Yiwu. After ten years of deep cultivation and development, the China Europe freight train has continuously expanded its operating scale with the advantages of large capacity, all-weather, high safety, and stable operation. The annual freight volume has increased from 1702 trains in 2016 to 20022 trains in 2025, a growth of 10.8 times in ten years and an average annual growth rate of 31.5%. Since 2020, the annual freight volume has remained above 10000 trains. As of June 10, 2026, the China Europe freight train has exceeded 10000 trains and one million TEUs, setting a new historical high for the same period.

Efficient and stable logistics channels continue to empower and increase efficiency for "Made in China" going global. In the past, Chongqing's exported cars needed to be transported by Yangtze River waterway to the eastern coastal ports for export, which had a long transportation cycle and high overall costs. Nowadays, with the support of the China Europe freight train, goods can reach the hinterland of Europe in an average of two weeks. "We rely on the China Europe Express to achieve priority in marshalling, shipping and space security of new energy vehicles, significantly reducing transportation time and costs." Yu Qinghua, general manager of overseas marketing of Chang'an Auto's new energy vehicle brand, Dark Blue, said that efficient cross-border logistics supported the rapid expansion of enterprises' overseas markets. In the first quarter of this year, the overseas orders of Dark Blue reached 13500 units, an increase of 85.4% year on year.

The flourishing development of logistics channels has driven the transformation and upgrading of regional industries. More and more foreign trade enterprises have seen new opportunities in the stable and efficient operation of the China Europe freight train, "said Liu Siqi, the Operations Manager of the Comprehensive Bonded Zone of the Foreign Affairs Department of Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park Company. A modern international logistics industry park covering an area of 35.5 square kilometers has now emerged around the once barren Tuanjie Village Central Station.

Over the past decade, the types of goods transported by China Europe freight trains have gradually expanded from products such as mobile phones and computers in the early stages of operation to 53 categories including clothing, shoes, hats, cars and accessories, grain, wine, coffee beans, wood, and more than 50000 other commodities. By 2025, the value of goods transported by China Europe freight trains will reach 67.7 billion US dollars, becoming a "fast lane" for "Made in China" going global and European agricultural and animal husbandry products, chemical raw materials, and consumer goods entering China.

At present, 129 cities in China have opened China Europe freight trains, connecting 236 cities in 26 European countries, "said the person in charge of the logistics center of China Railway Group Co., Ltd.

On the land of Central Plains, the gantry cranes at Zhengzhou Putian Station freight yard are busy taking off and landing, and red and blue containers are neatly stacked. Not long ago, a 75179 Central Asian train carrying 54 vehicles and approximately 1700 tons of textiles departed from here and headed towards Herat, Afghanistan.

The China Europe Railway Express (Zhengzhou) currently operates 9 to 10 trains daily, reaching over 140 cities in more than 40 countries overseas, "said Li La, Minister of the Express Logistics Department of the Freight Department of China Railway Zhengzhou Group Co., Ltd.

In Xi'an, a new efficient route has been added to the cross-border grain and oil logistics channel between China and Russia. On May 2nd, the China Europe freight train loaded with high-quality Russian rapeseed oil smoothly entered Xi'an International Port Station. As the first Sino European rapeseed oil special train from Krasnoyarsk to Xi'an, the train carries 62 containers, transports 1546.3 tons of rapeseed oil, and runs for 11 days to achieve cross-border direct transportation.

The coordination and scheduling department of Xi'an Railway Logistics Center prioritizes the pick-up of trains and provides direct access to the enterprise's dedicated unloading line. It only takes 1.5 hours to complete unloading and warehousing, which is nearly 50% shorter than the traditional unloading time. Each train saves 300 yuan in secondary loading and unloading logistics costs, efficiently connecting the "last mile" of cross-border transportation.

In Xinjiang, Urumqi Customs and State Railway Urumqi Bureau Group Co., Ltd. jointly carried out the reform of "smart railway port+territory fast customs clearance". Through the application of three core technologies, namely smart declaration of documents, intelligent inspection of customs, and customs railway information sharing, the customs clearance efficiency in Khorgos Railway Port, Urumqi International Inland Port Area and other places was significantly improved, so that the port passage time of imported goods was reduced from 2 to 3 days to 16 hours, a decrease of 70%, and the operation time of territory exported goods was reduced from 6 hours to 1 hour, a decrease of 80%.

"The annual traffic volume of China Europe Central Asia trains at Khorgos Railway Port will grow rapidly from less than 400 trains in 2016 to 9882 trains in 2025." Si Zhongwu, deputy director of freight workshop at Khorgos Station of Urumqi Railway Bureau Group Company, said that in the past ten years, China Europe trains have been running all the way and entered the fast lane of development together with this port.

The person in charge of the logistics center of China Railway Group stated that in the future, the railway department will further deepen domestic and international cooperation, promote diversified development of channels, pragmatically strengthen the construction of domestic and international guarantee mechanisms in transportation, safety, price and other aspects of China Europe freight trains, and continuously enhance the brand value and international competitiveness of China Europe freight trains.