CPPCC member calls for development of China-Europe railway distribution hubs

The land-sea freight train of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor heading for Indonesia waits to depart in China's southwestern Chongqing, April 26, 2019. [Photo by Liu Chan/Xinhua]

Concerted efforts should be made to advance the development of China-Europe railway distribution hubs, in order to better share resources, cut costs and improve efficiency, a political advisor said recently.

Gao Lin, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said that developing distribution hubs for China-Europe freight railway services will help coordinate infrastructure resources such as logistics channels and overseas warehouses, and improve the efficiency of transportation.

Chongqing is one of five major China-Europe railway distribution hubs in China, according to a plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2020.

Since 2011, when the first China-Europe freight train departed from Chongqing and headed to Duisburg, Germany, the service has expanded rapidly and become a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Gao, who is also the deputy chief of Chongqing's Yuzhong district and a member of the China Association for Promoting Democracy.

However, Gao pointed out in her proposal that as more cities start to operate China-Europe freight trains, intensive competition has been emerging in terms of types of goods, railway resources and transportation prices.

In addition, some creative steps piloted by major distribution hubs to facilitate China-Europe rail may involve multiple stakeholders and complicated processes, which makes them difficult to replicate in other parts of China, leading to low efficiency of its market-oriented operation, she added.

In response to such problems, Gao stressed the importance of building platforms for information sharing and coordinating trains running between cities.

In terms of expanding overseas markets, Gao suggested upgrading domestic sections of the railway and key ports along the China-Europe railway express.

She also called on the government to step up efforts to promote the expansion of freight train lines to connect the Yangtze River Economic Belt and new land-sea transit routes for China's western regions, as well as expanding new transportation corridors into countries such as Laos and Vietnam.

Looking ahead, Gao noted that key logistics hubs should work together to pursue digital and smart development of China-Europe freight trains, and jointly explore innovations in the integration of freight and trade, and the development of overseas warehouses.