Starting from 6:00 pm on April 10, 2026, the new freight train schedule will be officially put into use for railways nationwide. This map adjustment has further improved the product system of China's railway logistics, providing a more solid transportation guarantee for effectively reducing the logistics costs of the whole society and supporting high-quality economic and social development.

The implementation of the new freight train timetable this time is an important measure taken by China Railway Group to fully leverage the advantages of the national railway network and the centralized and unified command efficiency of dispatching, scientifically coordinate the line capacity, transportation equipment, and station resources, accurately match market demand, and further improve China's railway logistics product system. This move focuses on comprehensively improving the quality of freight train operation, aiming to provide customers with higher quality and more efficient railway logistics services.

Promote rapid distribution of goods between cities

Inter city trains are mainly operated point-to-point between cities, with fixed operating hours, mainly responsible for the transportation of goods by the whole vehicle. In the second quarter, the railway department will arrange the operation of 8 express intercity trains with a maximum speed of 160 kilometers per hour, 53 fast intercity trains with a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour, and 87 general express intercity trains with a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour. Among them, 8 new express intercity trains have been added from Changchun North to Qiaosi, Qiaosi to Tuanjie Village, Wuhu East to Korla, and 6 new general express intercity trains have been added from Erlian to Houmabei, Mianxi to Chengdu North, Qiaosi to Longchuan North, and 5 cotton trains have been arranged to further meet the transportation needs of time sensitive goods such as e-commerce, express delivery, and daily necessities between domestic cities.

Improve the overall logistics efficiency throughout the process

Multimodal transport trains adopt container transportation mode to achieve orderly connection with other transportation modes, and promote a full process logistics service mode from one container to the end. In the second quarter, the railway department will arrange the operation of 81 express multimodal transport trains with a maximum speed of 120 kilometers per hour and 121 general express multimodal transport trains with a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour. It will continue to operate demonstration express logistics trains between key economic regions such as Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu Chongqing, and implement online open booking services. In addition, 13 new fast multimodal transport trains have been added from Chifeng South to Nancang, Shijiazhuang South to Guangzhou International Port, Chengxiang to Wangjiaying West, and 16 new general fast multimodal transport trains have been added from Luohe East to Tongchengzha, Xiangyang North to Jingbian East, Wanzhou to Wuxi, providing a faster, more timely, more reliable, and more economical comprehensive logistics solution for cross regional cargo transportation. At the same time, the dynamic optimization of the sea rail intermodal train operation plan for the Western Land Sea New Corridor will be carried out, and train operation routes and stations will be added in a timely manner according to demand, fully serving the development of domestic and foreign trade transportation along the route.

Ensure the transportation of key materials

The railway department actively explores transportation potential and arranges the operation of 420 direct freight trains that cross the railway bureau group company. It provides transportation capacity support for key materials related to national economy and people's livelihood, such as electric coal, grain, spring plowing fertilizers, etc., and implements a priority guarantee mechanism to ensure that various key materials are quickly and efficiently delivered to their destinations. At the same time, we will strengthen the coordination of cross regional railway logistics services for bulk goods, closely connect with large coal, port, and shipping enterprises, actively promote the transfer of bulk goods such as coal and smelting materials from road transportation to railway transportation, continuously optimize transportation structure, and improve railway transportation volume, providing strong support for the smooth operation of the national economy and the production and life of the people.

Provide safe and efficient cross-border services

In the second quarter, the railway department will arrange 93 scheduled routes for the China Europe freight train, including 22 China Europe freight trains with full domestic and international schedules running every week. By deepening cooperation with railway departments of countries along the route, we can effectively ensure the timeliness of train transportation and provide stable expectations for enterprise production organization, cross-border trade development, and capital turnover. At the same time, 62 Central Asian train routes will be arranged, and an additional Central Asian train will depart from Beijing, Tianjin, and Zhangjiakou via Alashankou, to support the high-quality development of the foreign trade industry in the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region. In addition, actively expand overseas diversified logistics channels, increase the strength of trans Caspian train transportation organization, realize the operation of trans Caspian train at Khorgos and Alashankou ports, simultaneously test the operation of Sino European train routes across the Baltic Sea via St. Petersburg, Russia, and provide customers with diversified cross-border logistics options.

Continuously optimizing railway logistics services

Continuously optimize and improve the functions of the 95306 railway logistics service platform, enhance online processing efficiency, and continuously improve customer service experience. Vigorously promote the single unit and one box transportation modes, launch more multimodal transport products with railways as the backbone, and provide customers with safe, convenient, efficient, and economical full process logistics services. Promote the application of China Railway Network Freight Logistics Platform. Currently, the number of vehicles registered on the platform has reached 198000, which can provide door-to-door logistics services with railway trunk transportation as the core and integrate the two ends of the transportation to the road resources, effectively improving the overall logistics efficiency. Deepen the overall cooperation model, develop logistics general contracting services, actively integrate into the enterprise supply chain system, provide customized end-to-end logistics solutions, reduce intermediate links, improve transportation efficiency, and lower overall logistics costs. At the same time, we will deepen cooperation with commercial banks, optimize railway logistics financial products such as freight loans, letter of credit settlements, railway document financing, and railway freight certificates, effectively reduce customer financing costs, and further improve the level of logistics convenience.Editor/Gong Ziwei