Lianyungang International Freight Trains “Accelerate” Mutual Benefit and Win-Win Outcomes

From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2025-09-19 03:27

Recently, a special train loaded with 50 containers of photovoltaic brackets departed from the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) Logistics Cooperation Base. It will transfer to road transport via Kashgar North Station in Xinjiang before finally arriving in Navoi, Uzbekistan, for use in a national-level photovoltaic energy storage project. This marks the first time since the launch of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan freight train service in 2022 that Lianyungang Port has organized a shipment in special train form, underscoring the upgrade of its multimodal transport service capabilities. It is reported that from January to August this year, Lianyungang’s China-Europe Railway Express has cumulatively made 610 trips, maintaining strong growth momentum.

It is reported that the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan freight train service has now achieved stable operation of two trips per month. It not only facilitates the efficient export of goods like Japanese and Korean auto parts and photovoltaic modules but also enables the import and distribution of high-quality agricultural products, mineral products, and other materials from Central Asia via this “golden channel”. A major international trade route covering both East and West and radiating across Eurasia is extending from Lianyungang to the world. As the eastern starting point of the New Eurasian Land Bridge, Lianyungang Port is weaving a network of freight train routes reaching the globe. It has currently established six international freight train routes, including to the five Central Asian countries, China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan, China-Russia, and the Trans-Caspian route, utilizing five border ports like Alashankou and Khorgos, and radiating to multiple international stations across Asia and Europe. The opening of feeder train services from Wuxi and Yancheng, along with the approved construction of the Lianxu China-Europe Railway Express Assembly Center, is making this network increasingly robust.

Efficiency improvement is a key factor in the steady growth of train trips. This year, Lianyungang’s China-Europe Railway Express has fully leveraged its geographical advantages, striving to build a well-connected, smooth, and efficient land-sea multimodal transfer hub. They have accelerated the promotion and application of innovative models such as “direct ship-to-vehicle pickup” with zero waiting time, the “One Container Through” model for international sea-rail combined transport, and “railway fast clearance”, focusing on enhancing the transport efficiency and operational quality of the China-Europe Railway Express, truly achieving “connect all that should be connected, dispatch all that should be dispatched, and transport all that should be transported”. Furthermore, Lianyungang’s China-Europe Railway Express is continuously expanding in terms of source cargo and transport categories. The “bulk-to-breakbulk” direct loading operation mode for transit potash fertilizer is being continuously optimized, and new cargo types like Uzbekistani potassium sulfate have been successfully introduced. The transit volumes of 14 types of goods, including ferroalloys, potash fertilizer, lead-zinc ingots, and chrysotile asbestos, rank among the top nationally, steadily forming a major transit transport cycle connecting Central Asia-Lianyungang-Japan, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Europe, and America.

Additionally, breakthrough progress in cooperation between Lianyungang Port and Kazakhstan under the “Belt and Road Initiative” framework has injected new vitality into train development from the official opening of the container hub at Aktau Port on the Caspian Sea coast, to Lianyungang’s innovative launch of the efficient “One Container Through” transport model for Kazakh wheat transit, to the capacity expansion and upgrade of key facilities at the Khorgos dry port. These measures focusing on “hard connectivity” of infrastructure and “soft connectivity” of rules/standards are making the land-sea transport across Eurasia smoother.

Next, with the opening of the pilot zone for the China-Kazakhstan jointly built Aktau Port container hub and the commissioning of 10 new broad-gauge tracks at the Khorgos-Eastern Gate dry port, Lianyungang’s China-Europe Railway Express will leverage the advantage of the “Three-Node Hub Integration” of the New Eurasian Land-Sea Transport Corridor, fully unleash the port’s radiating and driving effects, continuously optimize train routes, further improve customs clearance and transfer efficiency at ports, and contribute to the high-quality development of the “Belt and Road Initiative”.