China Railway Express bucks growth trend, opens new chapter for Belt and Road Initiative

China Railway Express (CR Express) is an international multimodal container rail transport service run by China State Railway Group Co. According to the fixed train number, route, schedule, and timetable of the entire journey, CR Express freight trains run across China and European countries as well as countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) routes.

According to China's railway operator, a record 12,406 CR Express train trips were made in 2020, up 50 percent from the previous year. The trains transported 1.14 million twenty-foot equivalent unit containers in 2020, up 56 percent year-on-year. Against the historical backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the CR Express saw accelerated development. It has undertaken the transfer of goods by air and sea, playing an important role in bringing about the smooth operation of international logistics channels.

The Belt and Road Portal has published a series of reports on the CR Express in various forms including articles, comics, videos, charts and big data to explain the origins, development and current situation of the trains. Presented here is the third issue of our comic series: China Railway Express bucks growth trend, opens new chapter for Belt and Road Initiative.