Number of China-Europe freight trains up 36% in first half
July 28, 2020 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
The number of China-Europe freight trains dispatched in the first half of the year surged to 5,122, up 36% year-on-year, breaking the monthly record several times over, according to the China State Railway Group Co. Five freight assembly centers – Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xian and Urumqi as classified by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) – registered 4,003 trains in the first half, accounting for 78.15% of the total number of trains dispatched in more than 50 cities in China. Among the five centers, Xian was the black horse. In 2017, China-Europe freight trains dispatched from the city stood at 193. The number jumped to 1,235 in 2018 and 2,100 in 2019. In the first half of 2020, the number was recorded at 1,667. If the trend keeps going, Xian is likely to be the first city dispatching over 3,000 China-Europe freight trains in China.
Although neither Chengdu nor Chongqing saw the number of trains exceed 1,000 in the first half, the two cities started to move their focus from quantity to quality improvement. As of late June, 439 China-Europe freight trains had been dispatched in Zhengzhou. According to a plan released in April, the city aims to send out 1,100 trains this year, with local freight accounting for at least 18% of the total. To accomplish this goal, the city has to further expand the market in the second half to attract more cargo to be transported here from both within the province of Henan, where the city is located, and outside the province. Urumqi, ranking fifth among the five freight assembly centers in the first half, dispatched 47 China-Europe freight trains. The city needs to solve freight source problems so as to better function as a Belt and Road trade hub.
China-Europe freight trains are an important driver to recover foreign trade. The year 2020 is a key window period to expand the number of clients for China-Europe freight trains, but the market share of the trains in China’s logistics system accounts for merely around 1%. Potential still needs to be explored in market expansion and international cooperation, the China Daily reports.
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