The Overview of China Railway Express

The China Railway Express (also called: “CR Express”) is organized by the China Railway Corporation and runs in light of fixed train numbers, routes, schedules, and full-time running times, which is another logistics option for transporting Chinese manufactured goods to Europe and countries along the Belt and Road.

China-Europe Railway Express have been laid out three corridors for economic and trade Cooperation between China, Europe, and Middle Asian countries: the western corridor departs from the central and western parts of China via Alashankou (Korgos), the central corridor exits from North China through Erlianhot, and the eastern corridor departs from Northeast China through Manzhouli ( Suifenhe) out of the country.

In 2022, 16,000 China-Europe trains were launched and 1.6 million TEUs were delivered.

The Main Shipping Routes of China Railway Express:

Chongqing ～ Duisburg

Changsha ～ Duisburg

Wuhan ~ Czech Republic, Poland

Chengdu ～ Lodz

Zhengzhou ~ Hamburg

Suzhou ～ Warsaw

Yiwu ~ Madrid

Harbin ～ Hamburg

Lanzhou ~ Hamburg

Urumqi ~ Duisburg

Xian ~ Warsaw

Guangzhou ～ Moscow

Tangshan ～ Belgium

Chengdu ～ Vienna

Zhengzhou ~ Liege, Belgium

Wuhan ~ Irkutsk

Chengdu ~ Wroclaw, Poland

Chengdu ~ Felixstowe

Chengdu~Malaszevic

Yiwu ~ Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan

There are so many container train routes not listed and more and more routes will be set with deeper cooperation between China and Europe and countries along the Belt and Road.

Some Achievements:

In 2022, the cumulative number of China Railway Express (Xi’an) has exceeded 600.

Up to now, the Horgos Railway Port has received and dispatched 19,526 inbound and outbound China-Europe (Central Asia) trains. During the two years since 2020, the number of trains has nearly doubled the total number of trains in the previous four years.

As of the end of March 2022, Jincheng Customs, a subsidiary of Lanzhou Customs, has supervised a total of 325 “Lanzhou” China-Europe trains, 23,462 standard containers, a cargo volume of 265,900 tons, and a cargo value of 650 million US dollars.

As of April 14, 2022, a total of 15,051 China-Europe freight trains entering and leaving the country through Manzhouli, the largest land border port in China, have operated a total of 15,051 trains and delivered 1.39 million TEUs of goods. The new breakthrough of 15,000 trains has made positive contributions to ensuring the stability and smoothness of the international industrial chain supply chain.

As of April 20, 2022, China Railway Express (Shenyang) has completed the import of 4,712 standard containers of potassium chloride this year, with a total cargo weight of 61,256 tons.

In the first quarter of 2022, the Shenyang China Railway Express made a “good start”. According to data from Shenyang Customs, Shenyang Customs supervised a total of 105 China-Europe Railway Express trains, a year-on-year increase of 36.4%. The import and export goods under supervision of China-Europe Railway Express were 103,000 tons and 48,000 tons, respectively, an increase of 330.1% and 50.2% year-on-year.

In the first four months of 2022, Suifenhe Station ran 215 China-Europe trains, a year-on-year increase of 88.6%. So far, the station has opened a total of 1,118 China-Europe trains.

The Conclusion:

With its short distance, high speed, and high safety features, as well as the advantages of being safe, fast, green and environmentally friendly, and less affected by the natural environment, China Railway Express has become the backbone of land transportation in international logistics. The logistics organization of the China-Europe Railway Express is becoming more and more mature, the economic and trade exchanges between the countries along the train are becoming more and more active, and the cooperation between railways, ports, customs and other departments between countries is becoming closer. China played an important role in transforming the Silk Road from the original “trade road” into an “economic belt” where industries and populations gather.