On March 19, 10 years ago, it was also at the central station of Tuanjie Village in Chongqing, where China's first China-Europe freight train "Yuxin-Ou" started. The ancient camel bells were replaced by the roar of trains, and the sleepy ancient Silk Road began to wake up.
On the Eurasian continent, there were camel caravans for trade along the Silk Road in ancient times, and now there are steel camel caravans for China-Europe freight trains.
Over the past 10 years, the China-Europe Railway Express has grown from nothing to maturity. It has helped countries along the routes achieve connectivity and win-win cooperation. In particular, during the COVID-19 epidemic, it has become a "life channel" and a "bond of destiny" for the world to fight the epidemic together, and a vivid illustration of the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind.
From green to mature
"Ten years ago today, the first train was ordered by me." 'I didn't expect the China-Europe freight train to develop so fast,' said Zhang Xin, 50, the head of Tuanjie Village station in Chongqing.
Zhang initially set a long-term goal for the station to deliver a daily Chongqing-Xin-Europe train, which he described as a "difficult task". Today, Tuanjiecun Station is capable of sending and arriving more than a dozen China-Europe freight trains every day.
Ten years ago, the "Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe" freight train was born out of the urgent need of Chongqing and other western regions in China to open up to the outside world.
Deep in the western hinterland of Chongqing, from the sea and the border line are more than 2000 kilometers. In the past, the products of Chongqing exported either to the east through the coastal areas "floating out to sea", but it took too long; Or by air, but at a very high cost.
Adversity leads to adversity. Chongqing projected its thinking and vision to the west, and the "Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe" freight train came into being. It has closely connected Chongqing with Kazakhstan, Russia, Poland and Germany along the way, and shortened the space-time distance between western China and Europe from more than 40 days to about 15 days.
With the solution of one problem after another, especially after China put forward the "One Belt And One Road" initiative in 2013, the development of China-Europe freight train has entered the "fast lane".
Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Yiwu, Xi 'an... More and more cities have opened China-Europe freight trains. In June 2016, each line has a unified "China-Europe freight train" brand.
Today's freight trains between China and Europe have long since faded from the youth of 10 years ago -- from "single seedling" to "prosperous population". Ten years ago, the only freight train line "Chongqing-Xin-Europe" only opened 17 trains in 2011. Now, data from the National Development and Reform Commission show that China has laid 73 dedicated lines for China-Europe freight trains. In 2020, a total of 12,400 trains will run, breaking the 10,000 mark for the first time.
Win-win cooperation in connectivity
"Ten years ago, the improvement in logistics conditions brought by the Chongqing-Xin-Europe Railway Express was one of the important considerations for us to settle in Chongqing." Huasuo computer southwest district brand director Lu Hong said.
In the past, the logistics cycle for goods in inland western regions such as Chongqing was too long for investors to follow. "After the opening of China-Europe freight trains, the western region can directly participate in the international division of labor and integrate into the global industrial pattern." "Said Li Jing, vice president of Chongqing Technology and Business University.
The electronic information industry, one of the economic pillars of Chongqing and Chengdu, is closely related to the China-Europe freight train. After the opening of China-Europe Railway Express, hundreds of global upstream and downstream enterprises of electronic information have been attracted to settle in one after another, boosting Chengdu-Chongqing region to become one of the world's important electronic information industry bases.
China is not only the "factory of the world", but also the "world market" with 400 million middle class consumers. While promoting industrial upgrading in the western region, the China-Europe freight train also enables countries along the routes to share market dividends.
In the "world supermarket" in yiwu, zhejiang, the head of the Spanish import goods hall, jin hajun, whose father came from zhejiang to Spain for decades, selling yiwu small goods, now he is doing the opposite, and bring back the characteristic goods of Spain to China.
"In the past, the great wine region in Spain, Rioja, has been struggling to find a way to sell the Verbon empire." Jin Haijun said that after the opening of the China-Europe freight train from Yiwu to Madrid in Spain, the logistics time of nearly two months has been shortened to a dozen days, and the wine has been sold to China and even Japan by Chinese buyers. Now the annual sales volume reaches 200 million bottles.
In Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, the "One Belt And One Road" Commodity Exhibition and Trading Center has more than 40 "One Belt And One Road" national commodity pavilions, a considerable number of which are transported by China-Europe freight trains.
"Only with the China-Europe freight train, biscuits and other Russian products with short shelf life, can we meet with Chongqing consumers." "Said Liu Xiaomin, head of the Russian pavilion.
Nowadays, more and more imported goods are entering thousands of households on the China-Europe Express. In the streets of some cities, there are even imported luxury cars on the China-Europe Express...
"We see a lot of food, wine and other consumer goods in containers going to China. We believe that Chinese customers can easily buy European products and European countries can also share in China's market opportunities," said Thomas, business manager of DIT in Duisburg, Germany, in an email interview with Xinhua News Agency.
Life channel · destiny bond
Since last year, COVID-19 has swept the world, posing a risk of disruption to international supply chains. In the face of sea and air transport obstacles, the China-Europe freight train has become a "channel of life" and a "bond of destiny" with its advantages of safety and efficiency.
On January 25, a China-Europe freight train set off from Yiwu West Railway Station, the first such train in China this year. It will arrive in Marashevich, Poland, 13 days later, and then be distributed to other parts of Poland to deliver urgently needed supplies to Europe.
Data from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) shows that in 2020, the China-Europe freight train will deliver 9.39 million pieces of epidemic prevention materials, 76,000 tons, mainly to Italy, Germany, Spain, Poland and other countries, and allocated to more European countries, including Yiwu, Xi 'an, Wuhan and many other places to run "special trains of epidemic prevention materials."
After the outbreak, China had a backlog of more than 1,500 tons of international mail to Europe. The China-Europe Railway Express has carried out emergency distribution of mail that was originally scheduled to be sent by air through the three international exchange offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The China-Europe Express International Parcel Train to Chongqing, Yiwu, Guangzhou and other places has been operating continuously during the epidemic period. Among the international parcels carried, there are mainly over 10,000 kinds of cross-border e-commerce goods, including clothing, toys and electronic products.
According to data from China National Railway Corporation, a total of 12,400 freight trains will run between China and Europe in 2020, delivering 1.135 million TEU, up 50 percent and 56 percent respectively year on year.
"Against the backdrop of the global fight against the epidemic, the China-Europe freight train will support countries along the routes in their fight against the epidemic and boost global economic recovery and development." Ruan Zongze, executive vice president of the China Institute of International Studies, said that the China-Europe freight train conveys the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and contributes "Chinese strength" to the global fight against the epidemic and boost the global economy.
Source/Xinhua News Agency
