The first China-Europe rail-sea train between Urumqi, China and Salerno, Italy, officially launched

This train departs from the Horgos Railway Port in Xinjiang, China, passes through Kazakhstan, enters the Caspian Sea from Aktau Port, disembarks from the Baku Port in Azerbaijan by sea, and then passes through Azerbaijan and Georgia by train. The port of Poti enters the Black Sea to load cargo ships, passes through the Turkish Straits to the Mediterranean Sea, and finally reaches Salerno, Italy. 

Liu Yang, deputy director of the 95306 Freight Logistics Service Center of China Railway Urumqi Bureau, said that this train adopts the rail-sea combined transport mode and will not be reorganized midway. It is easier to switch goods between rail and sea freight, and transportation costs are lower than ever. The opening of this line provides a new way for Chinese manufacturing to "go global" and lays a solid foundation for promoting the normalization of transportation on the China-Europe South Corridor.

This train is scheduled according to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea shipping schedules, and the railway running time, port operation time and port stay time of each section are scheduled. After arriving at the port, the train enters the port area directly, improving the efficiency of the transfer process and saving more than half of the entire transportation time compared with sea transportation.

Li Shuanping, director of the "One Belt, One Road" International Cooperation Department of the Development and Reform Commission of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said that the launch of the first China-Europe rail train from Urumqi, China to Salerno, Italy, provides a guarantee for the stability of the international industrial chain and supply chain, and has become the first rail-sea train between China and Europe and along the route. National trade "stabilizer" and development "accelerator".

In the first quarter of this year, a total of 4,541 China-Europe freight trains were launched, delivering 493,000 TEUs of goods, a year-on-year increase of 9% and 10% respectively. As of the end of March 2024, China-Europe freight trains have operated more than 87,000 trains, reaching 222 cities in 25 European countries