As of October 2025, the China Europe freight train, known as the "steel camel caravan", has operated a total of 118600 trains, transported 11.7 million TEUs of goods, and reached 232 cities in 26 European countries. A logistics service network covering the entire Eurasian continent has been formed. At the 2nd China Europe Railway Express International Cooperation Forum held in Xi'an, Shaanxi, Zhou Haibing, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, announced that in the future, efforts will be focused on four major directions to promote the development of China Europe Railway Express towards higher quality, better efficiency, and safer direction.

In the future, the China Europe freight train will strive to expand diverse and efficient transportation channels. On the one hand, we will improve the overall transportation efficiency by innovating regulatory models and optimizing inspection processes; On the other hand, we will deepen the expansion and renovation of ports and channels. Zhou Haibing specifically pointed out that we will jointly enhance the transportation capacity of key hub nodes such as Aktau Port and Baku Port, actively develop new transportation routes, and build a more flexible and resilient international logistics network.

Technological innovation will become the core engine for upgrading the China Europe freight train. The National Development and Reform Commission will strengthen the application of high-tech such as big data and artificial intelligence, optimize the functions of the digital port system and the China Europe freight train portal website, and enhance the level of intelligence. At the same time, more themed humanistic trains will be launched, and the development of the new model of "train+" will be vigorously promoted to extend train services to the high-end of the value chain and create new growth points.

Safe and stable operation is the lifeline for the sustainable development of China Europe freight trains. In the future, we will fully leverage mechanisms such as law enforcement and security cooperation consultations among countries along the China Europe freight train, strengthen dialogue, communication, and exchange cooperation to jointly ensure the safety of channels and goods, build a full chain security governance system, and provide smooth and unimpeded protection for this Eurasian artery.

To further enhance the radiation driving efficiency, the China Europe freight train will continue to deepen its integrated development with trade, industry, logistics, finance and other fields. This move aims to improve the efficiency of resource allocation and international competitiveness of participating enterprises, ultimately promoting higher quality economic and trade cooperation between China and Europe, and achieving mutual benefit and common development among countries along the Belt and Road. Keywords: the Belt and Road news, the Belt and Road

The theme of this forum is "Connecting Asia and Europe, Sharing the Future". More than 450 representatives from 45 countries and regions attended to jointly explore the future blueprint of the China Europe freight train. This tireless' steel camel caravan ', with its strong pulse, confirms the tremendous vitality of the connectivity between the Asian and European continents, and will continue to inject new impetus into the development of the world economy.Editor/Cheng Liting