At around 10am on the 15th, Chongqing Tuanjie Village Central Station. The X8083 China Europe freight train slowly departed from the platform, loaded with electronic information products, complete vehicles and spare parts, mechanical industrial parts, household appliances and other goods, heading towards Duisburg, Germany. The 10000th column! The China Europe freight train, this' steel camel caravan ', has delivered another impressive report card. From 0 to 100000 trains, China EU trains have stepped out of the "acceleration" of development, boosting the high-level opening up of China's inland areas, creating new development opportunities for countries along the line, becoming a vivid example of high-quality co construction of the "the Belt and Road", and accelerating towards a better future of win-win cooperation. On November 15, 2024, the 10000th China Europe freight train, the X8083 China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg), was ready to depart from the Tuanjie Village Central Station in Chongqing. Wang Quanchao, a reporter from Xinhua News Agency, took pictures of the train from 0 to 100000, and took the "the Belt and Road" Dongfeng fast growing train, roaring and whistling. Entering Chongqing Tuanjie Village Central Station, what catches the eye are deep blue containers with the "China Europe Express" logo printed on them, and orange yellow cranes busy with operations. At the same time, from cities such as Chengdu, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou, China Europe freight trains loaded with goods slowly departed and headed towards distant Europe. Looking back over a thousand years, the famous trade route connecting Asia and Europe - the Silk Road - has seen a continuous stream of caravans of commerce and trade, witnessing the glory of "envoys facing the road, and merchants traveling endlessly". In ancient times, there were trade camel caravans along the Silk Road, and now there is the "Steel Camel Caravan" of the China Europe Railway Express. In 2013, China put forward the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Riding on this east wind, the China Europe freight train emerged and accelerated its development. According to data from China Railway Group, the time required for the China Europe freight train to operate 10000 trains has been reduced from 90 months at the beginning to 6 months; From the unified brand in 2016 to 2023, the annual number of China Europe freight trains has increased from 1702 to over 17000. From 0 to 100000 trains, the China Europe freight train has grown into an international logistics brand with strong radiation, driving force, and influence. The service network is rapidly expanding. The China Europe freight train has grown from a single route at the beginning of its operation to a logistics network that covers the entire Asia Europe region. Domestically, the railway department has mapped 93 China Europe freight trains with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, connecting 125 cities; Abroad, the China Europe freight train has reached 227 cities in 25 European countries and over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries. The quality of operation is steadily improving. The categories of goods on the China Europe freight train have reached over 50000 types in 53 major categories, with the proportion of high value-added goods increasing year by year; The annual transportation value of China Europe freight trains has increased from 8 billion US dollars in 2016 to 56.7 billion US dollars in 2023, and the transportation value has reached 58 billion US dollars so far this year. Service guarantee is constantly optimized. China Railway Group has established 107 railway container return points and customer service centers for China Europe freight trains in 14 countries along the route; Launch the China Europe freight train portal website and build a "one-stop" comprehensive service platform, providing global customers with unique services such as domestic and international full process insurance, cargo information tracking, and IoT containers. "The China Europe Express has witnessed the continuous deepening and implementation of high-quality joint construction of the the Belt and Road." Professor Zhai Kun from the School of International Relations at Peking University said. Crossing mountains and rivers, creating new opportunities for development through win-win cooperation. Looking at the China Europe freight train departing from the platform, Kang Qinbin, Director of International Sales Department of Lifan Technology (Group) Co., Ltd., was particularly impressed: "We were the first customers of the China Europe freight train, and the train solved our logistics problems." "More than 10 years ago, Chongqing products were either exported to the coastal areas of the east, but the time was too long; or they were shipped by air, but the cost was too high." Kang Qinbin said that after the opening of the China Europe freight train, the time for the company's products to be transported to Eastern Europe was shortened by more than 50%, and it firmly established itself in the local area. For more than 10 years, this "steel camel caravan" has crossed mountains, deserts, and sandy seas, promoting high-level opening up of inland areas to the outside world. Relying on the China Europe freight train, Ulanqab in Inner Mongolia has achieved rapid growth in import and export trade and related industries, becoming a new engine for local economic growth; The "cargo carrying" capacity of Ganzhou International Land Port in Jiangxi Province has been significantly enhanced, promoting the annual output value of the furniture industry cluster in Nankang District, Ganzhou City to increase from billions of yuan before the construction of the port to 270 billion yuan by 2023; The Chengdu Chongqing region is accelerating its rise as an industrial base for electronic information, new energy vehicles, equipment manufacturing, and other industries... Cooperation and win-win, sharing weal and woe. The China Europe freight train has also created new development opportunities for countries along the route. Every week, a series of China Europe freight trains carrying European goods depart from the Netherlands, cross mountains and rivers, travel eastward, and arrive at ports in our country. Jeff Molinales, the sales director of healthcare transportation at Dutch logistics company New Silk Road Logistics, said in a video interview with reporters, "The drugs and other products we transport have high requirements for timeliness and temperature, and the China Europe freight train is very important to us." "On average, the company transports more than 20 temperature controlled containers of goods through the China Europe freight train every week." Molinales said that the China Europe freight train can meet the needs of companies to explore both European and Asian markets, bringing new opportunities for the development of Dutch pharmaceutical companies. Nowadays, German cars, Polish milk, Dutch cheese, Kazakh flour... more and more goods from countries along the train are sharing the dividends of the Chinese market. Along the route of the China Europe freight train, new logistics, industrial, and commercial centers continue to emerge on the Eurasian continent. In Kazakhstan, the Aiju Agricultural Products Logistics Processing Park, located in the grain producing region of North Kazakhstan, has formed a linkage with the China Europe freight train to further expand the export scale of agricultural products in Kazakhstan; At Duisburg Port, Germany, China Europe Express attracted hundreds of logistics enterprises to settle down and created more than 20000 jobs. On November 13th, a China Europe freight train loaded with new energy vehicles departed from Chengdu International Railway Port, striving to run towards a better future. Unlike the traditional China Europe freight train route, this train will be refitted at Aktau Port in Kazakhstan, transferred to a ferry across the Caspian Sea, and then transported by railway and road to Tbilisi, Georgia. This is the China Europe trans Caspian direct express route that started on July 3rd this year. With the sharp increase in freight volume and the changing overseas logistics environment, the China Europe freight train is also facing challenges: booking is becoming tight, and the pressure on ports along the route is increasing... To promote the high-quality development of the China Europe freight train, it requires resilience to overcome difficulties and the courage to innovate and break through. The China Europe Trans Caspian Express Line is a beneficial attempt. Nowadays, more positive changes are happening - the shortcomings of multimodal transport are being accelerated and filled. The countries along the route are continuously improving their infrastructure, increasing capital investment, and enhancing transportation efficiency. Since the beginning of this year, the trans Caspian China Europe (Asia) freight train has grown 24 times year-on-year, becoming a new growth point for the China Europe freight train. At the end of September, the newly-built comprehensive inspection field at Alashankou Station was completed and put into use, and the standard gauge and wide gauge transportation capacity at Alashankou Station were increased by 15% and 30% respectively. Combined with the capacity expansion and renovation project, Alashankou Station has improved its transportation organization plan, compressed non operational time, and fully released transportation potential. From a single route to a three-dimensional international trade and transportation network that is smooth, efficient, extends in multiple directions, and interconnected by land and sea, the China Europe freight train enables unimpeded transportation between Asia and Europe David Peraz, General Manager of the Georgian State Railway Company, said. Accelerate the upgrading of service capabilities. In June of this year, the China Europe freight train (Chongqing Duisburg) successfully achieved bi-directional connectivity of the entire timetable. The operation of the China Europe freight train has effectively solved the problems of uncertain running time and multiple invalid stops when the train passes through various countries in the past Dong Hui, Deputy Director of the Freight Department of China Railway Group, introduced that the current timetable of the China Europe freight train covers routes from Chongqing, Xi'an, Chengdu, Yiwu, Wuhan, Guangzhou to Duisburg, Germany, and Łó d ź, Poland. The full timetable of the China Europe freight train has given customers along the route a stable expectation of transportation efficiency, attracting a large number of high value-added goods, with an average increase of 41% in the value of goods per container compared to ordinary China Europe freight trains. The product supply is further enriched and improved. In recent years, characteristic trains such as new energy vehicles, postal supplies, cross-border e-commerce, and cold chain have built a diversified product system for China Europe freight trains. At the same time, railway and other departments vigorously carry out scientific research and solve a series of transportation difficulties for key products: developing independent heat storage and temperature control containers, solving the safety problems of railway transportation for new energy vehicles and consumer lithium batteries... "Adhering to the Silk Road spirit of peace, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, the China Europe freight train will develop towards higher quality, better efficiency, and safer direction, providing strong transportation service guarantees for promoting China's foreign trade development and serving high-level opening up to the outside world," said Dong Hui. (New Society)