As of Friday, the China-Europe freight train network has reached a significant milestone, completing 1,000 trips this year. This achievement comes eight days earlier than the same time in 2024.
On Friday morning, freight train X8489, loaded with electronic products, mechanical parts, and chemical goods, departed from Xi’an International Port Station. Its destination: Malaszewicze, Poland. This marked the 1,000th trip for China-Europe freight trains in 2025.
The success of the network is largely attributed to the advanced use of technology. The Xi’an Railway Bureau has integrated Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence into its operations. This smart station system has helped to significantly reduce operation times and increase overall efficiency.
Xi’an International Port Station, a key hub for international rail traffic, now operates 18 international trunk lines. This ensures comprehensive coverage of major freight sources across Eurasia.
According to Liu Shunli, chief duty officer at Xi’an International Port, “China-Europe freight trains have maintained strong operational momentum this year. With an average of over 14 departures daily, a train leaves or arrives at Xi’an International Port Station every 100 minutes.” Additionally, the station has broken daily loading records five times this year, with the highest peak reaching 1,366 carriages in a single day.
In a bid to further enhance transportation efficiency, the port yard has been expanded from two tracks to six. This expansion has increased its annual container handling capacity to 6 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) and its freight volume to 75 million tons, solidifying Xi’an’s role as a major hub in the Eurasia Railway Fleet.
The speed of delivery has also improved. “This train, which departed on Friday, will take only 10 to 12 days to reach its destination,” explained Shi Miao, deputy general manager of the Multimodal Transport Company under Xi’an International Port Group. “With the high-quality development of China-Europe freight trains (Xi’an), we have seen a significant scale of high-value goods, including sophisticated and branded cross-border e-commerce items. This has led to the success of ‘Shaanxi goods, Shaanxi collection, Shaanxi manufacturing, and Shaanxi transportation.'”
The continued success is also the result of collaboration and optimization. “To further improve the high-quality operation of China-Europe freight trains, we worked with 13 work units within the park to establish a joint functional Party branch. Since its creation last June, the branch has focused on improving efficiency by integrating railway and customs inspection procedures and optimizing operational processes. As a result, we’ve reduced return trip costs by 20 percent and increased assembly and distribution efficiency by 52.9 percent,” said Shi Zhiyuan, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) General Branch of Xi’an International Port.
The milestone of 1,000 trips marks a notable achievement for the China-Europe freight train network, highlighting its ongoing development and increasing role in facilitating global trade between Asia and Europe.
