On August 26, 2026, at Zhengzhou International Land Port, the whistle sounded twice in a row on the same morning. Two container trains with the national first train logo arrived at the station one after another, one heading south towards Linchaban, Thailand, and the other heading west towards Baku, Azerbaijan. On this day, two key new pieces of the cross-border logistics map in the hinterland of the Central Plains were added simultaneously.

The efficiency of the southbound channel has significantly increased

The first China Laos Thailand scheduled express train in the country departs with automotive parts from SAIC Group's Zhengzhou base. The enterprise factory is less than 50 kilometers away from the Zhengzhou assembly center of the China Europe freight train, and can be transported directly to the station in one hour by road. The factory port linkage mode greatly improves the efficiency of cargo collection and shipping.

The train departs from Zhengzhou and exits through Mohan Port, running through the entire Laos to Linchaban, Thailand. The entire journey only takes 5 to 6 days, which is 2 to 3 days shorter than the previous regular train and nearly half shorter than the traditional sea transportation cycle of 15 to 18 days. This new channel has strong stability, minimal weather interference, and a fully controllable supply chain, providing a new and efficient logistics option for Henan enterprises to connect with the ASEAN market.

Fill in the core shortcomings of documents in the westward channel

The first Nantong China Europe freight train from Zhengzhou to Baku, which was launched simultaneously, loaded a total of 55 sets of containers, including automotive parts, household appliances and other goods, with a value of about 2.36 million US dollars and a weight of about 370 tons. Previously, the multi section transportation of the trans Caspian Sea corridor railway and sea railway used traditional railway waybills for a long time, which were cumbersome in the documentation process and directly restricted the development of trade and finance in the corridor, becoming the core bottleneck for the large-scale operation of the intermediate corridor.

This train innovation integrates CIFA international multimodal transport bills of lading and railway freight documents, opens up the practical application scenarios of the United Nations Convention on the Transfer of Goods Documents rules, fills in the gaps of land international trade property rights certificates, realizes financial empowerment for the entire process of multimodal transport from one bill to the end, and greatly improves the standardization, internationalization, and marketization level of international train cross-border supply chains. Keywords: Cross border logistics map, container trains

Standing at the edge of Zhengzhou International Land Port, watching two trains depart one after another, no one could have imagined that the first China Europe train departing from here ten years ago would now form a logistics network covering more than 40 countries and 140 cities. The accumulated operation of 19000 trains is gradually transforming the hinterland of the Central Plains from an inland transportation node to an open and regulated export area that connects Asia and Europe and links ASEAN.Editor/Cheng Liting