The China-Europe Railway Express has witnessed a significant surge in operations in the first half of 2024. 🚆 A total of 7,746 train trips passed through the Horgos Port and the Alataw Pass in northwest the Chinese mainland's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, marking an 8.2% increase year-on-year.
These two ports in Xinjiang are pivotal, handling 40% of all China-Europe freight train trips. As the volume of these freight trains continues to rise, the variety of goods being transported has expanded dramatically. What once included daily necessities and ores now features large-scale equipment, automobiles, lithium batteries, and more. 🛠️🚗🔋
The Horgos Port and Alataw Pass connect with Kazakhstan in the Western corridor of the China-Europe Railway Express route. Due to an 85-millimeter difference in standard gauge railway tracks between the Chinese mainland and Kazakhstan, containers must be reloaded at border stations. To boost efficiency in container reloading and transit, railway workers from both China and Kazakhstan have rolled out various improvements.
“Originally, it took us around 60 seconds to change one container. Now, it only takes about 40 seconds. If each vehicle carries two containers, we can save about 40 minutes to load a train. Including other operations, it used to take about 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete the whole train change operation. Now it only takes an hour and a half,” said Xie Shuyong, a gantry crane operator in Alataw Pass.
Moreover, Xinjiang has commenced construction of the “Digital Urumqi Railway,” enhancing container exchange capabilities. The adoption of paperless operations for information exchange between customs and railway departments has also streamlined procedures for freight trains. 🌐🖥️
Yang Rui, the deputy director of the safety production command center in Alataw Pass, explained, “The station pre-reserves tracks in advance to ensure uninterrupted train arrivals and departures. The outbound train turnover speed continues to accelerate, reducing clearance times to within 5 hours. Inbound cargo information transfer processes have also been sped up by 4 hours.”
Since its launch in 2011, the China-Europe Railway Express has expanded its reach to 223 cities across 25 European countries and connected more than 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, fostering robust international trade connections. 🌍🚄
