China's First Full-time Schedule CRE Train Departs

At 03:55 on October 26, China Railway Express freight train X8155, loaded with 50 vehicles of photovoltaic inverters, electric compressors, vacuum cleaners, and other goods such as auto parts containers from the China Railway Express (CRE) (Chang'an) Consolidation Center, departed from Xi'an Guojigang Railway Station of China Railway Xi’an Group Co., Ltd. and headed west to Europe. It will leave China at the Alashankou Port and arrive in Duisburg, Germany at 03:00 on November 5. This marks the successful operation of China's first CRE (Xi'an) cargo train with a full-time schedule.

To ensure stable CRE transit time, better meet the logistics needs of clients, and further improve the running quality, China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. (China Railway) and the railway authorities of countries along CRE routes engaged in several talks and decided to dispatch full-time schedule CRE trains in October 2022. Xi'an Guojigang Railway Station, one of the important stations for CRE trains, was chosen as the departure station of thefirst full-time schedule CRE train. Xi'an International Inland Port Multimodal Transportation Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") served as the platform company for the train.

What is a full-time schedule train?

From China to Europe, CRE trains pass through various countries on variable-gauge tracks. The whole CRE journey consists of the Chinese Section, Broad Gauge Section, and European Section.When CRE trains enter another country, the cargo must be reloaded into trains fitting the tracks in that country. Previously, no requirements or restrictions were made on the running time, which was easy to cause many invalid stops on the route, while impossible to realize high efficiency.

After the full-time schedule CRE trains start running, the schedules of each section of the domestic and foreign railway trains will be connected throughout the whole process,which will effectively control the service time at each section and eliminate invalid stays during reloading, thus further increasing the transportation efficiency, the running quality, and the market competitiveness of CRE trains.

Under the unified deployments of China Railway, the Company has actively communicated and cooperated with the Administrative Committee of Xi'an International Trade & Logistics Park, China Railway Xi'an Group Co., Ltd., Xi'an Station Customs, China Railway Container Transport Co., Ltd., China Railway International Multimodal Transport Co., Ltd., and China United International Rail Containers Co., Ltd. Xi'an Branch to overcome the impact of the pandemic, organize supplies of goods, and check the quality, loading, and reinforcement of containers. Meanwhile, the X8155 train has been equipped with the Beidou satellite-based positioning electronic lock to monitor the train throughout the journey and ensure its safe and stable operation.

As the report to the 20thNational Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) proposed, we will "promote high-standard opening up, and accelerate efforts to foster a new pattern of development that is focused on the domestic economy and features positive interplay between domestic and international economic flows", "accelerate China’s transformation into a trader of quality, promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and endeavor to preserve the diversity and stability of the international economic landscape and economic and trade relations". Guided by the guiding principles of the 20thCPC National Congress, the Company will take stronger stepsto continuously promote the high-quality development of the CRE (Chang'an) and make its due contributions to the construction of an international trade corridor with high efficiency, low costs, and excellent services in China's inland areas.