China-Europe freight rail tops 130,000 trips
The China-Europe Railway Express has surpassed 130,000 cumulative trips, transporting goods worth more than US$520 billion, according to the latest official data. The milestone was crossed on May 9, when a freight train departed Zhengzhou in central China for Hamburg, Germany, Xinhua reported. Officials reaffirmed the figures at a National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) briefing on July 28.
A decade of expansion
The China-Europe Railway Express is a flagship project and signature brand of the Belt and Road Initiative, often described as a “steel camel caravan” linking Asia and Europe. The service took on its unified China Railway Express brand on June 8, 2016, standardizing routes that had previously been operated as scattered city-to-city connections.
The results since then have been dramatic. Annual trips rose from 1,702 in 2016 to 20,022 in 2025, an average annual increase of more than 30 percent, according to China.org.cn, which quoted Liang Linchong, director of the NDRC’s Open Economy Department. “Currently, the number of trips in a single month already equals the total annual figure for 2016,” Liang said at the briefing.
Liang also noted that the loaded-container ratio has stood at 100 percent for 46 consecutive months through June 2026, and that the full rail journey from Xi’an to Duisburg has been cut to as little as 11 days.
A network stretching across Eurasia
The network now spans 129 Chinese cities, reaches more than 100 cities across 11 Asian countries, and extends to 26 European countries, Xinhua said in its May report. The rail operator has designated 93 scheduled lines with a designed speed of 120 kilometers per hour, while freight rates have fallen by more than 40 percent since the service launched. Trains now carry more than 50,000 types of goods across 53 categories, including automobiles, machinery, electronics and agricultural products.
By July, operators had mapped out 96 routes forming northern, central and southern corridors, according to the Securities Daily, which covered the NDRC briefing.
Why rail is winning new customers
Rail’s value proposition is speed relative to ocean shipping and reliability relative to road or air alternatives. Pawel Moskala, general manager of Polish logistics company Real Logistics, said rail transport from China to Poland typically takes about 20 days, compared with 46 to 50 days by sea — a gap that allows companies to replenish inventories more quickly and respond flexibly to demand, as Xinhua’s feature on the service’s 10th anniversary noted.
The 2026 European heat wave provided a vivid illustration. When temperatures topped 40 degrees Celsius in parts of Europe in June, demand for air conditioners surged, and Chinese manufacturers Midea and Gree switched restocking from sea to rail, cutting transit from about 40 days to around 15 days, according to the Securities Daily, which quoted Liang describing the service as a “fast lane” for China-Europe trade.
European businesses say the corridor has moved from novelty to necessity. “No single choke point can shut the whole system down,” said Michael Schumann, chairman of Germany’s BWA business association. “In a world of persistent geopolitical volatility, that matters enormously to businesses planning three to five years ahead.”
Local economic impact
The railway’s benefits are visible beyond logistics statistics. At Germany’s Duisburg Port, the service has attracted more than 100 logistics companies and created more than 20,000 jobs. Thomas Krajnicki, a worker at Yuxinou Germany in Duisburg, described the opportunity bluntly: “For me personally, this is the best thing that could have happened to me at my age.”
Similar stories are emerging across the region. In Lodz, Poland, logistics firm owner Filip Grzelak said the rail connection “helped us grow. It was a very good moment in the history of our company.” In Budapest, the Central European Trade and Logistics Cooperation Zone has drawn e-commerce platforms including Temu, AliExpress and Shein, many of which first entered via rail.
What’s next
The NDRC says it will continue strengthening the service’s brand, improving its internationalization and marketization, and boosting resilience. China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, covering 2026-2030, also emphasizes elevating China-Europe (Asia) rail development as part of building a more connected Belt and Road network.
The long-term outlook is ambitious. Citing an Asian Development Bank analysis, Schumann noted the corridor’s capacity could quadruple by 2040. “If we use that capacity wisely — with transparent rules, reciprocal market access and high technical standards — the railway will not just carry goods; it will carry the relationship forward.”
With one month of 2026 now matching the entire annual volume of 2016, the rail link appears positioned to keep growing — and to keep reshaping trade and investment between Asia and Europe for years to come.