China News Agency, Beijing, September 19th: How does the China-Europe trains promote east-west connectivity?
Author Ma Bin Associate Researcher, Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University
The first 10,000 China-Europe freight trains launched this year have arrived in Europe a few days ago, exceeding 10,000 trains 10 days earlier than last year.
Despite the impact of complex factors such as the COVID-19 epidemic, China-EU economic and trade cooperation still shows strong resilience and vitality.
The China Railway Express has played an important role in stabilizing the global industrial chain and supply chain and promoting the post-epidemic recovery of the world economy.
The China-Europe Railway Express started operation in 2011, and has now formed the basic pattern of "three major channels, four ports, five directions, and six major routes", and has built an important part of the interconnection network between China and the "Belt and Road". Effectively supplement and improve the East-West interconnection network.
China Railway Express.
Photo by Huang Xin
A new attempt to connect things
"China-Europe freight train" now specifically refers to the Chinese and foreign container freight direct trains that meet the "five-determination" standards (namely, fixed point, fixed route, fixed number of trains, timing, and pricing).
On March 19, 2011, Chongqing opened the "Yuxin-Europe" container freight direct train, which was the beginning of the China-Europe train; in 2016, the operation mode of the train was adjusted, and the lines were unified in various places, called "China-Europe train".
Up to now, the China-Europe freight train has 82 operating lines, reaching 200 cities in 24 European countries.
Since the first operation of "Yuxin-Europe", the China-Europe freight train has not only risen from a local project to a symbolic national project, but has also become an important way to connect the hinterland of the Eurasian continent, providing a platform for China and the countries along the route to jointly build the "Belt and Road". Important grip.
As a "new attempt" for freight transportation in the Eurasian continent, the China-Europe freight train has no ready-made model for reference and reference; its development has gone through two stages of "decentralized exploration" and "preliminary integration", and is currently in the process of "optimization". Upgrading”, and showing the characteristics of “rapid growth in the scale of CDB”, “continuous expansion of coverage”, and “continuous increase in the types of freight transported”.
In March 2022, the 10th anniversary commemorative train of the China-Europe freight train (Yuxinou) will depart from Chongqing to Duisburg, Germany.
Photo by He Penglei
During this process, China and the countries along the route have established a series of coordination mechanisms around train transportation, which has also expanded the scope of connecting east and west.
The cross-border transport of the China-Europe freight train is jointly completed by China and the railway companies of other countries along the way.
Taking the train from China to Europe as an example, the container train starts from the departure station in China to the border port of China and goes through the corresponding exit procedures, and then changes to the corresponding border ports in Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, etc.; , and the relevant national railway companies are responsible for the implementation of broad-gauge standard transportation; after the wide-gauge section is completed, it will be reloaded at the border ports of Poland and other countries, and the European standard-gauge section will be transported, and finally shipped to different European countries.
A new network connecting things
After more than 11 years of development, the China-Europe Railway Express has formed a basic pattern of "three major channels, four ports, five directions, and six major routes" to build a new network connecting east and west.
The "three major passages" respectively refer to the west passage of China-Europe freight trains leaving the country via Xinjiang and the middle and east passages leaving the country via Inner Mongolia.
The "Four Ports" are Alashankou, Manzhouli, Erlianhot, and Horgos, which are located on the three major passages. They are the main ports of entry for the China-Europe Class List.
The "five directions" are the areas where the main destination of the China-Europe freight train is located. At present, this part of the region mainly includes the European Union, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
Among them, the European Union, Russia, and Central Asia are the regions and countries with the most concentrated train lines in China; the Middle East and Southeast Asia have only a few train lines.
The "six major lines" refer to the train lines with relatively high operating quality since their opening.
Among all China-Europe freight train lines currently in operation, the lines operated in Xi'an, Chengdu, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Suzhou and other places have outstanding performance in terms of scale, supply organization and operational stability; Qilu's performance is also very eye-catching.
On September 7, the construction of the first supporting entity park of Shandong Jinan China Railway Express (Qilu) started in Jinan.
Photo by Qian Zhaorong
The true value of the China Railway Express
The real value of the China Railway Express is that it is a typical project of interconnection between China and the countries along the “Belt and Road”, providing a necessary demonstration for connecting the east and the west.
Specifically in:
First of all, the China Railway Express is an important way of transporting goods from east to west.
The mode of cargo transportation is the basic positioning of the China Railway Express.
The "China-Europe Railway Express Construction and Development Plan (2016-2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") pointed out that the China-Europe Railway Express "not only connects Europe and the countries along the line, but also connects East Asia, Southeast Asia and other regions; it is not only a railway channel, but also a multimodal transport corridor”.
The opening of the China-Europe freight train provides another option for the exchange of goods between China and the countries along the route, in addition to the main methods such as sea, air and road.
Shipping is currently the main way of international long-distance freight. However, cities far from the ocean transport products from inland areas to ports, and then export them abroad through sea, which increases economic and time costs. It is attractive for the countries in the hinterland of Eurasia covered by the Silk Road Economic Belt.
This new mode of transportation allows them to alleviate the development disadvantage caused by being far away from maritime ports to a certain extent, and transport goods to their destinations in a more economical and reasonable way.
Aerial photography of the China Railway Express.
Photo by Zhang Yuan
Secondly, the China Railway Express is an important means for the smooth flow of east-west trade.
The cargo transportation service provided by the China-Europe freight train is an active attempt to promote trade between China and countries along the route.
The goal of the opening of some early routes of the China-Europe freight train is to help local companies deliver their products to the European market.
For these local governments, solving the transportation bottleneck by opening the China Railway Express is a rational investment behavior based on the overall interests of the local area. The opening of the China-Europe freight train can also transport local goods to Europe in a faster way, speeding up the flow of goods between China and Europe, thereby promoting the development of trade with Europe.
With the continuous operation of China-Europe trains, in order to solve the increasingly prominent problems such as the organization of the source of goods for the return journey and the improvement of the operating quality of the trains, many local governments have enhanced the competitiveness of the line through various means, such as upgrading the port level of the departure city. , expand the type and scale of imported products, and develop technologies such as container cold chain transportation and information tracking.
These measures not only improve the operation quality of China-Europe freight trains, but also provide an important boost for the development of trade between China and countries along the route.
Thirdly, the China Railway Express is an important area for connecting east-west facilities.
The existence of physical connectivity (hard connectivity) between China and the railway infrastructure of the countries along the route is an objective prerequisite for the opening of the China-Europe freight train; the realization of management soft connectivity between the infrastructure and systems of China and the countries along the line is the opening of the China-Europe freight train. The realistic basis mainly includes the coordination and unification of the management measures and standards of railways, customs and border inspections, etc., so as to ensure that the China-Europe trains can reach the destination smoothly.
Although there were already hard and soft infrastructure connections between China and Europe before the China-Europe Railway Express, the degree of connectivity was relatively low, and it was impossible to operate in accordance with the "five-determined" standard, let alone overcome the cross-border transportation of containers on the China-Europe Railway Express. High demands on time, cost and efficiency.
To this end, relevant agencies of China's central and local governments have actively communicated and negotiated with other countries along the route, and tried various ways to solve the problem of hard and soft connectivity of facilities.
The development process of the China-Europe Railway Express is actually a process of close cooperation between China and countries along the route in a series of areas such as improving infrastructure construction, as well as customs clearance, reloading, monitoring, and safety assurance of railway transportation, and promoting the interconnection of infrastructure between them. .
Therefore, the China Railway Express is an important area and starting point for China to carry out infrastructure interconnection with countries along the route.
On August 21, at Xi'an International Port, the police escorted the China Railway China Railway Express to depart safely.
Photo by Zhang Xin
To sum up, the basic pattern of "three major passages, four ports, five directions, and six major routes" that has been formed by the China-Europe freight train may continue to undergo major changes as its development enters the stage of adjustment and optimization.
As an important starting point and platform for the construction of the "Belt and Road", the China Railway Express will also play an active role in the financial integration and people-to-people bond between China and the countries along the route in the future, which is the proper meaning of its development.
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About the Author:
Ma Bin, Ph.D., is an associate researcher at the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies, Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, and deputy director of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Research Center. Two monographs have been published so far on topics such as the Belt and Road, China-Europe Railway Express and infrastructure connectivity, foreign direct investment and political risks.