China-Europe Railway Express to achieve higher level in five years: expert

As a stabilizing force for global trade amid the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China-Europe Railway Express aims to achieve high-quality growth in the next five years by further improving its service quality and diversity, an expert said.

“China-Europe Railway Express has become a ‘stabilizer’ for business cooperation and an ‘assurance’ for smooth international trade. We might be amazed at the rapid growth of trips made by China-Europe Railway Express at present. We will be amazed at its quality improvement in another 5 years,” Zhang Xiaodong, a professor from Beijing Jiaotong University, told the Belt and Road Portal in a recent interview.

Zhang Xiaodong, professor from Beijing Jiaotong University

According to Zhang, China-Europe Railway Express started off as a "new option" in addition to sea and air freight. With the COVID-19 pandemic greatly affecting sea and air transport capacity, some demand for air and sea freight shifted to rail freight. China-Europe freight trains played an exceptional role in stabilizing the international supply chain and have been acknowledged by everyone.

“China-Europe Railway Express guaranteed the safety and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain of countries and regions along Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) routes, and also enhanced the reliability and trust of international cooperation,” he added.

“The trade volume of countries and regions along BRI routes is increasing. BRI has driven the growth of logistics business volumes in these countries and regions, and encouraged the transformation and upgrading of logistics enterprises, improving their service quality and efficiency,” Zhang noted.

Railway authorities of China, Belarus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Poland and Russia signed an agreement to deepen cooperation on China-Europe freight rail services in 2017, according to a report by the Xinhua News Agency. The countries have expanded their rail services to more areas and will provide faster customs clearance, while a joint expert team has been formed to solve technical problems.

“In addition to providing basic logistics services, some China-Europe Railway Express operating companies have diversified their service modes and scope. Facing increasing demand in the market, they need to further upgrade their services,” he highlighted.

China State Railway Group Co signed the Convention on Promoting the High-quality Development of China-Europe Railway Express together with companies operating China-Europe Railway Express services in September 2019.

“High-quality development cannot be achieved in a single effort,” Zhang said, noting that related departments are expected to launch routes in a rational manner and make full use of assembly centers. “The capacity of the transport system is expected to be improved, including the capacity of ports, rail freight stations, warehouses, train routes and international coordination.”

As countries along the train routes have different technical conditions and capacities, reducing the burden on railways and ports in neighboring countries by optimizing formation and assembly in China will help to improve service efficiency, Zhang said.

“A whole-process logistics is also expected to be developed, with efforts to involve picking, assembling, packaging and door-to-door distribution,” Zhang said.

Personnel training is vital given that high-quality development requires a large number of talents who are equipped with a variety of business and professional skills, according to the professor.

In 2020, a record 12,406 train trips were made by China Railway Express, up 50 percent from the previous year, becoming an important achievement and highlight of BRI construction.