Three freight trains including a China-Europe freight train dedicated to "Silk Road" e-commerce depart from Nanchang city, East China's Jiangxi Province on March 2, 2023. The "Silk Road" e-commerce freight train departed from Nanchang to Moscow via Manzhouli port in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Photo: cnsphoto

China-Europe express trains made 16,145 trips in the first eleven months of this year carrying more than 1.75 million 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers of goods, with transported freight value exceeding last year's, data from China State Railway Group showed.

The group said the freight trains have reached 217 cities in 25 European countries, exemplifying the express train service's growing contributions to international industrial and supply chain viability. 

To step up upgrading of the China-Europe express train service, China State Railway Group said the second line project of the Jinghe to Alashankou section of the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway went into operation on November 30. The annual transportation capacity has increased from 15 million tons to reach 60 million tons, and the transportation time has been shortened by about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, China Railway is expanding the number of the running trains, making the transportation capacity of the trains increase by 10 percent, and transportation time reduced by more than 20 percent on average, compared with ordinary trains. 

The China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation Demonstration Area (SCODA) in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, has grown into a new platform for international cooperation.

The SCO or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization is the world's largest regional organization in terms of geographic scope and population.

In the first 11 months of this year, 814 China-Europe freight trains departed from the SCODA, a year-on-year increase of 16.5 percent, and nearly 67,000 TEUs were shipped, including 325 return China-Europe freight trains, according to Qingdao Customs.

Global Times