More than 10,000 China-Europe freight trains have used the rail network so far in 2022, beating the same milestone set in 2021 by 10 days earlier, following a freight train departing Xi'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province to Hamburg, Germany on Sunday.

Cumulative transported cargo has reached 972,000 TEUs in the first eight months of the year, up five percent year-on-year, China Railway, the state's railway system operator, told the Global Times on Sunday.

In 2022, China opened new railway and marine transport routes starting from Xi'an and Southwestern Chongqing city to the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and Romania, further expanding the country's overseas logistics network, said the state railway operator.

Multiple ports along the China-Europe freight train route have been upgraded. The capacity of west channel has been increased by 20.7 percent, while the middle channel was increased by 15.2 percent, and the east channel by 41.3 percent since the beginning of 2022, data showed.

At present, the China-Europe freight train has carried out 92 operational routes covering 200 cities in 24 European countries, deepening cooperation between China and European economies and strengthening the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, according to China Railway.

Global Times