When the cock crows, three countries can hear it and we can see Russia and Mongolia at first glance. Manzhouli City in Inner Mongolia that borders Russia and Mongolia is an important hub on the Eurasian land-way and an important pivot of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. In 2018, the number of China - Europe train passing in and out through Manzhouli railway port reached 1,801, with a year-on-year increase of 38.2% carrying 147,800 standard containers, with a year-on-year increase of 33.4%, and the value of goods was 8.728 billion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 15.63%.
It was shown in the data that, the regular trains passing out of the Manzhouli port add up to 985 in 2018, with a year-on-year increase of 10.5%, carrying 82,800 standard containers, with a year-on-year increase of 8.9%, and the value of goods was 6.274 billion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 7.56%; the regular trains passing in were 816, with a year-on-year 56.8%, carrying 65,000 standard containers, with a year-on-year increase of 52.4%, and the value of goods was 2.454 billion U.S. dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 43.02%.

This sort of rapid growth is a typical case for general growth of China - Europe train throughout China. Ning Jizhe, Deputy Head of National Development and Reform Commission, recently said that China had launched its “The Belt and Road” program since five years ago, and the total number of China - Europe train (excluding those from China to Central Asia) had reached 14,000 by the end of February. The construction of “The Belt and Road” is changing from the stage of “freehand brushwork” in planning and layout to the stage of “fine brushwork” at present and in the future.

The rapid growth of “The Belt and Road” construction in Manzhouli just benefits from the overall background. The operation potential of China - Europe train passing in and out via Manzhouli railway ports has been continuously released since 2018. Up to now, there have been 52 China - Europe trains passing in and out, taking Manzhouli land port as the pivot, among which there are 34 passing out trains and 18 passing in trains. At present, China - Europe train passing out through Manzhouli land port mainly collect goods in 60 cities including Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Changsha, forming an Omni-directional radiating and interconnecting efficient logistics channel throughout China. With more and more countries responding to the “The Belt and Road” initiative and the continuous improvement of infrastructure along the Eurasian logistics corridor, there will be more and more European goods reaching China via the China - Europe train in the future, and the spillover effects of the China - Europe train are becoming increasingly prominent.
If Manzhouli represents the general condition of “The Belt and Road” construction of Northeastern China, Xinjiang Province is the representative of Western China.

On the last day of 2018, the X9401 goods train departed from Urumqi aggregation center of China - Europe train with a sound of the siren, which is the 1,000th China - Europe train that opened in the year. Since then, another two trains departed on that day, with the annual number of the center's operating trains reaching 1,002, create an annual new high.
As an important hub of the opening-up and interconnection built by Xinjiang Railway Department, Urumqi aggregation center of the China - Europe train issued the first China - Europe train in May 2016. Up to now, it has established cooperative relations with 82 export-oriented enterprises in China, and its freight managements are exported to Guangdong, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shandong, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and other provinces and cities. The operating scale of it has grown from once a week to three times a day, and the number of lines has reached 20, leading to 26 cities in 19 countries throughout Asia and Europe.

The X9401 goods train is fully loaded with tomato sauce products produced by COFCO TUNHE Co., Ltd., which is passing out from Alashankou station to Naples, Italy. Wang Yanli, the principle of Business Unit of the company said “We are the beneficiaries of the China - Europe train. Benefiting from the improvement of transport efficiency, now our company has opened a regular China - Europe train covering Kazakhstan, Russia, Italy and other countries and regions, and the export of our company is becoming smoother.”
“The number of opening trains of the whole year has exceeded 1,000, which has set a new historical record. We will rely on the advantage of international logistics channel to expand the international logistics brand influence of China - Europe train, in order to promote the transformation of Xinjiang from ‘channel economy' to ‘industrial economy'”. Nan Jun, Deputy General Manager of Xinjiang Xintie International Logistics Co., Ltd. expresses that the Urumqi aggregation center of China - Europe train will continue to expand the scope of logistics, improve the service level, further unblock the international logistics channel, and fight for a new high in the number of China - Europe train in a new year.

Hu Kaijiang, Secretary of Party Committee of Industry and Information Technology Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region expresses that they will carry on the activity of “improvement of quality and increase of efficiency for the westbound trains”, so as to improve the function of the Urumqi aggregation center of the China - Europe train and accelerate the construction of the Urumqi international inland port area. Focusing on the demand of bi-directional goods source organization, to expand the number of cooperative cities of concentrated transportation, support the construction of logistics information platform of westbound trains, and gradually realize heavy to-and-from, efficiency improvement and market-oriented operation of the trains.
Ning Jizhe also discloses that “The Belt and Road” facility connection is operating, the China-Laos Railway, China-Thailand Railway, Djakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway, Hungary-Serbia Railway and other projects promote solidly, and the Gwadar Port, Hambantota Port, Piraeus Port, Khalifa Port and other projects run smoothly. In the past five years, the total goods trade volume between China and these countries along the “The Belt and Road” has exceeded 6 trillion U.S. dollars. Last year, China directly invested 15.6 billion U.S. dollars in these countries along the “The Belt and Road”.

Ning Jizhe said that China will stick to the principles of “extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits” and “connectivity of policies, infrastructure, trade, finance and people”, follow the market orientation and international common practice, give play to the role of enterprise dominant and the guiding function of government, promote and build the high quality development of “The Belt and Road”, build the “The Belt and Road” as to be the road to peace, the road to prosperity, the road to open, the road to green, the road to innovation, the road to honesty and the road to civilization. To make solid progress in connectivity development, we need not only strengthen the hard connectivity in railways, highways, ports and airports, but also advance the soft connectivity in policies, rules and standards. We need not only unblock the land, sea and air “silk road”, but also unblock the digital “silk road”. We need not only build the infrastructure, but also build the economic corridors.

Economic Daily· The journalist of China Economic.cn
Gu Yang Qiao Wenhui

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