China-Europe freight train trips surpass 90,000

This aerial photo taken on Sept. 7, 2023 shows a view of Xi'an International Port in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

XI'AN, May 25 (Xinhua) -- A train fully loaded with diverse goods departed from Xi'an, the capital city of northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Saturday morning, bound for Malaszewicze, Poland, marking a significant milestone as the total number of China-Europe freight train trips has surpassed 90,000.

To date, China-Europe freight trains have transported more than 8.7 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers of goods, valued at 380 billion U.S. dollars, according to China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

From 2016 to 2023, the annual number of China-Europe freight train trips surged from 1,702 to over 17,000. The value of goods transported by this service skyrocketed from 8 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 to 56.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

The types of goods via the China-Europe freight trains have expanded from IT products such as laptops and printers at the beginning to over 50,000 different types, including clothing and footwear, automobiles and parts, daily necessities, food, timber, furniture, chemicals and machinery.

Since 2023, an increasing number of Chinese-made "tech-intensive green trio" products -- lithium-ion batteries, photovoltaic products, and NEVs -- have been transported through the China-Europe freight trains, reflecting strong market demand, said China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

So far, the China-Europe freight trains have reached 223 cities in 25 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, with the service network covering almost the entire Eurasian continent, it added.