China-Europe freight trains become key trade link

The China-Europe freight trains have witnessed rapid growth amid COVID-19 epidemic, playing a crucial role in stabilizing international industrial and supply chains, China's top economic regulator said on Monday.

Jin Xiandong, spokesman with the National Development and Reform Commission, told a news conference the China-Europe freight trains have become increasingly important in connecting the two continents and assist in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, as the pandemic choked international air and maritime transport.

According to Jin, a total of 7,323 China-Europe freight train trips were made in the first half of 2021, up 43 percent year-on-year.

These trains carried 701,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit containers of goods, up 52 percent from a year earlier. And a total of 12.32 million pieces and 96,000 metric tons of anti-pandemic supplies were sent through the route.

With a 98 percent comprehensive heavy container rate, the trains reached 23 countries and 168 cities in Europe, the NDRC data showed.