China Railway Express (Xi'an to Vilnius) Makes Its Debut during the Chinese New Year Holiday

The first train of China Railway Express (CRE) Chang'an international freight train (Xi'an to Vilnius) set off on February 12, 2021, the Chinese New Year's Day. This train was loaded with 50 containers of cargo, including 15 containers of pandemic prevention and control supplies such as masksand protective clothing.

Among the international freight lines from Xi'an, the "Xi'an-Vilnius" line is a northern line with wide coverage and good time efficiency, which can further lay the market foundation of CRE Chang'an international freight trains in Northern Europe. Since its opening in 2020, the Xi'an-Vilnius line has received much attention and praise, and has become an important trade route along the "Belt and Road".Recently, the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in China sent a letter to express its sincere gratitude for the long-standing service of the weekly round-trip CRE Chang'an international freight train from Xi'an to Vilnius.

The regular operation of the Xi'an-Vilnius line not only strengthens the bilateral cooperation between China and Lithuania but also provides more business opportunities for the countries along the "Belt and Road". The Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in China hoped the Lithuanian Railways and Xi’an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. would strengthen cooperation and jointly explore more potential markets for the Xi'an-Vilnius line.

Since Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, becomes a new drop-off point for the German Express of the CRE Chang'an international freight train, the market demand has grown rapidly. As of September 18, 2020, a regular train loaded with export cargo departs from Xi'an every week and heads to Vilnius. Up to now, 19 CRE Chang'an international freight trains (Xi'an-Vilnius) have finished the transportation for a total of 757 containers of cargo. The Xi'an-Vilnius line takes only 8 days for the whole journey, which gives it strong competitiveness in transportation time efficiency. As the train runs in a broad-gauge railway, it reduces one changeover work. Now, the cargoes applicable to this route mainly include computer and instrument products, industrial products and textiles, etc., and a larger share of cargoes are transported with Less-than-Container-Load (LCL) shipments.

In 2020, the CRE Chang'an international freight trains carried more than 1,500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) of various types of pandemic prevention and control supplies, providing strong support for international cooperation in pandemic prevention and control. In the same year, the first CRE Chang'an international freight train (Istanbul-Xi'an) and CRE Chang'an international freight train specially assigned for Lenzing AG(Vienna-Xi'an) made the maiden journey, which was recognized and supported by the Ambassador of Turkey to China and the Ambassador of Austria to China.

The international recognition highlights the positive contribution of CRE Chang'an international freight trains to the deepening of practical cooperation between countries.