Trips made by China-Europe freight trains surge in 2018

Austrians look at a new China-Europe freight train from Chengdu to Vienna at the Vienna South Freight Center in Vienna, Austria, on April 27, 2018.

China-Europe freight trains made 5,611 trips in the first 11 months of 2018, surging 72 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to a meeting held in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.

In 2017, more than 3,000 trips were made via the China-Europe freight trains between cities on the two continents. The number is expected to reach 6,000 in 2018, according to the meeting held by the Transport Coordinating Committee of China Railway Corporation’s China-Europe project.

As of November, the trains connect 56 Chinese cities with 49 European cities in 15 European countries. The number of trips from Europe to China has increased and accounted for 71 per cent of the trips to Europe, according to the committee.

In late August, the trains marked their 10,000th trip since beginning operations in March 2011.

The China-Europe freight rail services have pushed forward China’s opening-up and boosted economic and trade cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road, the China Railway Corporation said in a statement.

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, a transnational network connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond. Over the past five years, China’s trade in goods with countries along the Belt and Road exceeded 5.5 trillion U.S. dollars. Chinese direct investment in the non-financial sectors of these countries reached 80 billion dollars during the same period. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

Staff unload containers from the freight train X8044 after the train from Hamburg of Germany arrived at Wujiashan railway container centre station in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province.

The freight train X8044 from Hamburg of Germany arrives at Wujiashan railway container center station in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei Province, Aug. 26, 2018.

Photo taken on May 21, 2018 shows a cross-border e-commerce freight train from Hamburg of Germany arriving in Xi’an, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province.

The China-Europe freight train from Tangshan of China arrives at Antwerp Port, Belgium, May 12, 2018.

Imported vehicles loaded by a freight train arrive at the container terminal in Xi’an of northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, June 13, 2018. Departed from Ghent, Belgium, the train took 16 days to transport a total of 160 Volvo vehicles.