Number of China-Europe freight train trips made via border ports in Xinjiang rises by average of 68 pct annually

A freight train from the China-Europe Railway Express arrives at a land port in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. (Photo provided to China Daily)

The number of China-Europe freight train trips made via railway border ports in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region accounts for 52.2 percent of such trips made via border ports across the country and has grown at an average annual rate of 68 percent since the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed in 2013, Xinjiang Daily reported on Sept. 27.

Over the past years, with the number of China-Europe freight train trips and the routes for these trains increasing year by year, the trains have become an important driving force for the development of the BRI and a backbone of international logistics and transportation in Eurasia.

As the western passage of the China-Europe freight trains, Xinjiang has played an increasingly important role in the development of the China-Europe freight train service.

In particular, Xinjiang's Alashankou and Horgos railway ports, key links in the trains’ transportation network, have made continuous efforts to improve their services. By optimizing train schedules, increasing train passage efficiency, and implementing capacity expansion and transformation projects, among other efforts, the border ports have increased their number of cross-border train trips on an annual basis.

"There has been a marked increase in the number of inbound and outbound China-Europe freight train trips, which couldn't have happened without factors such as Xinjiang's location advantage, economic vitality, continuously intensified efforts put into infrastructure construction, and improving efficiency of customs clearance," said Li Xing, deputy head of the freight department of the China Railway Urumqi Bureau Group Co., Ltd.

Xinjiang has made continuous efforts to improve its infrastructure. The region has a built a railway network with the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway linking Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province with Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, as the main line, and the Golmud-Korla Railway linking northwest China's Qinghai Province and Xinjiang and the Linhe-Hami Railway stretching from north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Xinjiang as auxiliary lines.

With the Afuzhun (Altay-Fuyun-Zhundong) Railway and the Hotan-Ruoqiang Railway in Xinjiang being put into operation, the region has completed two circular railway lines encircling its Junggar Basin and Tarim Basin, respectively.

As of June this year, the total length of railways in Xinjiang had reached 9,091 kilometers, laying a solid foundation for the smooth operation of inbound and outbound China-Europe freight trains in the region.