By Eric Huang.    Photo：Krivec Ales

During the epidemic, due to the rare difficulties encountered in ocean transportation between Asia and Europe, the shipping costs increased sharply, the ports were congested, and the shipping schedule was completely unstable. In order to break through this dilemma, railway logistics has become the best alternative way, because railway transportation has two characteristics of fast, efficient and cost-effective. The railway transportation time from China to Europe is only 1/3 of the sea transportation, and the transportation cost is only 1/6 to 1/8 of the air transportation cost. Railway transportation between China and Europe started in 2016 and uses the brand name " China Europe trains ". At present, more than 90 routes have been operated in total. In the first eight months of 2022, 10,622 trains and more than 972,000 TEUs have been loaded, an increase of more than 5% compared with 2021. According to statistics, in the past seven years, there have been more than 2,022 China-Europe freight trains leaving the country through Khorgos, a border station in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China.

Although Sino-Euro railway transportation was very popular during the epidemic, the outbreak of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has cast a shadow over this railway transportation. Originally, this New Silk Road, which passes through Russia for more than 6,000 miles, connects Western Europe with eastern China. Because some routes will pass through the war zone, these exporters began to hesitate whether to continue to use them. In addition, some European customers may boycott goods transported to Europe via Russian railways, which made Kuehne + Nagel International, one of the largest freight forwarding companies in Europe, announced that it will not accept rail freight from China to Europe at that time. According to a report by the Securities Times, the subsidiary of the Chinese official media – People’s Daily, starting from March 2022, the number of trains from Dalian Port to Europe will be "significantly reduced."

However, as the war entered a stalemate, the above-mentioned doubts gradually disappeared, and the Sino-Euro railway transportation soon returned to its former prosperity. On October 26, 2022, China launched a freight train from Xi'an to Duisburg. Although there are already dozens of different lines on this new Silk Road, this is the first train with a fixed timetable on the Sino-Euro railway. Since China Europe Trains pass through many different countries, in addition to the different rail specifications, it is even more difficult to coordinate the running time. After consultations between China and Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and other countries that the Sino-Euro railway passes through, they finally signed the "Measures for the Compilation and Cooperation of the Full Timetable of the China Europe Trains ", so that the service of the China Europe Trains can improve reliability and transportation timeliness.

On December 31, 2022, the railway service from Vietnam to Kazakhstan via China was officially operated. Freight trains departed from Pingxiang Railway Station in Guangxi, southern China, and arrived at Xi'an, the railway gateway in eastern China. Then it was transferred to the China Europe Trains and sent to Kazakhstan. The main products carried were electronic components made in Vietnam. In the past, most of the electronic components produced in Vietnam were shipped to the Central Asian countries by sea. However, due to outbound planning constraints and fluctuations in lead times, the entire process takes approximately 50 days. This new route can shorten the route from Vietnam to the Central Asian market to about 25 days. The operation of this route also means that the service objects of the China Europe Trains are no longer limited to China or the countries along the railway. Other countries can also take the China Europe Trains to deliver goods to Central Asia and Europe through connections with China Railway. This symbolizes that the service objects of the Sino-Euro railway transportation have expanded to neighboring countries, and its influence has also increased sharply. Sino-Euro Railway transportation has gradually become a key player in the Asia-Europe trade!

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