by Xinhua writer Liu Bowei
BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The inaugural freight train of China Railway Express (CR Express), departing from Chongqing in southwest China to Duisburg, Germany, in 2011, established a high-speed logistical link between western China and Europe.
Fifteen years later, the railway service has grown into a rail network spanning much of Eurasia, linking hundreds of cities across China, Europe and Asia.
Over the past decade, the railway service has evolved into far more than a freight corridor. It has enabled more inland Chinese cities to engage in international trade, provided businesses along the route with more efficient logistics solutions, and fostered closer economic ties between China and Europe.
The express service is one of the flagship infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. It also reflects China's broader efforts to foster a new development pattern, strengthen industrial and supply chains and advance high-level opening-up.
WELL-DEVELOPED NETWORK
In 2011, a freight train carrying electronic products departed from Chongqing for Duisburg, completing a roughly 11,000-km journey in about 16 days. The launch of the Yuxin'ou service marked an early milestone in the development of what is known as the modern "steel camel caravans."
Since the CR Express was launched under a unified brand in 2016, the freight train services have evolved from a collection of largely independent routes into a more coordinated freight network spanning much of Eurasia.
"The biggest change (of a unified brand) was coordination. It allowed operators to focus more on improving safety, transit times, load factors and service quality," said Gao Dong, deputy general manager of Yuxin'ou (Chongqing) Supply Chain Management Co.
Before that, different routes largely operated on their own, he said, adding that overseas negotiations, freight-rate coordination and customs clearance were often handled separately.
The impact can be seen in both scale and reach. Annual departures increased from 1,702 trains in 2016 to 20,022 in 2025, a 10.8-fold increase, with an average annual growth rate of 31.5 percent. Since 2020, annual operations have consistently exceeded 10,000 trips.
"Those are not abstract statistics; they represent real supply chains that were simply not there before," Michael Schumann, chairman of the Board of the German Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
At the same time, the network has become broader and more diversified. Through infrastructure upgrades and closer cooperation with railway operators along the routes, northern, central and southern corridors now operate in parallel beyond China's borders. Today, the service connects 129 cities in China with 236 cities across 26 European countries and more than 100 cities in 11 Asian nations.
The cargo profile has expanded alongside the network. What began largely with IT products such as computers and mobile phones now encompasses more than 50,000 products across 53 categories. Automobiles, auto parts, machinery and electrical equipment have emerged as major export cargoes, while timber, pulp, specialty agricultural products and consumer goods from Europe are also transported eastward.
"The CR Express itself is an efficient logistics platform capable of supporting large volumes of cargo," said Filip Grzelak, owner and board member of Hatrans Logistics. "As the railway network continues to grow and connect more cities in China and Europe, we believe it will create even more opportunities for commercial cooperation between businesses on both sides."
FROM LOGISTICS HUBS TO ECONOMIC CORRIDOR
At Chongqing International Logistics Hub Park, imported European vehicles are being unloaded at the automobile import terminal, while thousands more are parked in nearby yards awaiting distribution across China.
For companies, the attraction lies in a balance of speed and cost. A Porsche vehicle shipped from Germany to the logistics park via the CR Express can arrive in about 15 days, about half the time needed for sea freight and roughly two-thirds cheaper than air transport.
Tuanjiecun Station, the departure point of the first Yuxin'ou China-Europe freight train in 2011, was once surrounded by largely undeveloped land. Over time, the surrounding area has developed into a 35.5-square-km logistics park, making it a major rail-linked logistics hub for warehousing, customs clearance and distribution.
"More foreign trade companies are recognizing the opportunities created by the stable and efficient operation of the CR Express," said Liu Siqi, an official at the logistics park.
As the express service continues to grow, it has helped nurture Chongqing's electronics, automotive and motorcycle, and materials industries, each generating more than 500 billion yuan (about 73.53 billion U.S. dollars) in annual output, while also enabling new business activities ranging from pharmaceutical imports to cross-border e-commerce.
Similar dynamics are also emerging along the Eurasian rail corridor, where the railway service is creating new opportunities for logistics hubs to gain better access to international markets.
In Kazakhstan, logistics operators report growing rail freight volumes and continued investment in logistics infrastructure. Further west, inland hubs such as Dostyk in Kazakhstan and transit nodes including Kars in Türkiye are taking on larger roles in regional freight networks as cross-border rail connectivity expands.
"Almaty's position as a regional logistics center has become stronger, with increasing volumes of goods moving through Kazakhstan to other Central Asian markets. At the same time, new logistics parks, warehouses and transport facilities have been developed along the corridor," Dinmukhamed Konakbayev, general manager of the Kazakh-Chinese Trade and Logistics Company (Almaty) Ltd., told Xinhua.
WHEN TRAINS RUN BOTH WAYS
The CR Express has achieved a 100-percent loaded container rate for 45 consecutive months. The ratio of return to outbound trains has exceeded 85 percent, reflecting improving operational balance across the Eurasian corridor.
"Ensuring each train runs both ways and carries goods in both directions at a commercially viable value is our simple but fundamental goal," Gao told Xinhua.
Amid ongoing structural adjustments in global trade and supply chain networks, European stakeholders see the improving balance as a sign of greater commercial sustainability.
"The railway is a practical platform for facilitating two-way trade. As long as there is demand for suitable goods, it can continue to strengthen commercial links between Europe and China," said Pawel Moskala, general manager of Polish company Real Logistics.
Changes brought by the CR Express have supported "continued growth in cargo volume and the extension of our service chain," Irfan Tulan, deputy general manager of Trans-Eurasia Germany, told Xinhua. "It has enabled us to transform from a pure rail carrier into an integrated logistics solutions provider on the European side."
Tulan made the remarks in an on-site interview in Duisburg, a city once synonymous with steel and coal that has since become one of Europe's largest inland logistics hubs, serving as a redistribution point for China-Europe rail freight across Western and Central Europe.
As the railway network has matured, its value is increasingly seen not only in transporting goods, but also in facilitating closer economic cooperation.
"The CR Express is far more than a tool for transporting goods. It has become a physical link for industrial connection and corporate cooperation between China and Europe," said Bezaf Zeway, head of the Business Segment Rail at German freight forwarding company M&M Air Sea Cargo GmbH.
Many industry observers have said that the CR Express system has demonstrated greater resilience by operating across multiple corridors, with the development of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route adding further redundancy to the network.
"No single choke point can shut the whole system down. In a world of persistent geopolitical volatility, that matters enormously to businesses that are planning three to five years ahead," said Schumann. "The CR Express has, in my view, graduated from a niche alternative to a core pillar of the Eurasian logistics architecture."
"Trip by trip, that physical and economic connectivity is in the mutual interest of both sides," Schumann said. "If we use its capacity wisely -- with transparent rules, reciprocal market access and high technical standards -- the railway will not just carry goods; it will carry the relationship forward." Enditem
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