On September 18, 2026, a fully loaded Asia Chengdu Europe air rail intermodal international train carrying light textiles departed from Chengdu International Railway Port. This batch of goods arrived in Chengdu by air from Bangladesh in the early stage, then seamlessly transferred to Chengdu Central Asia Public Train, and directly arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan, via Khorgos Port. The smooth operation of this train marks an important step forward in opening up a new path from Southeast Asia to Chengdu and Central Asia through the Asia Chengdu Europe corridor, further enhancing Chengdu's air rail hub level in serving the Central Asian market. The Yarlung Europe air rail intermodal transportation channel is jointly developed by Chengdu International Railway Port Investment and Development Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Chuanhang Logistics Co., Ltd., forming a synergy in transportation organization, channel construction, policy coordination, and other aspects.

Open up the new artery from south to west

This channel not only connects Southeast Asia to Chengdu and extends westward to Łó d ź, Poland, but also successfully opens up a new southbound to westbound artery to Central Asia, providing efficient and diverse logistics options for intercontinental transportation. Zhan Kai, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Business Department of Chengdu Qingbaijiang Customs, stated that the customs actively connects with enterprises to carry out tracking and guidance, deepens the use of convenient reforms such as railway rapid clearance, and provides 24-hour appointment clearance services to help enterprises connect with international logistics transit business and effectively reduce logistics costs. In terms of hub construction, the Chengdu International Railway Port Economic Development Zone Management Committee, Customs, Sichuan Airlines, and Chengdu International Railway Port Investment and Development Co., Ltd. have collaborated efficiently to comprehensively ensure customs clearance operations such as air entry, port transfer, and railway exit, effectively connecting the entire logistics chain of cross-border goods. The successful landing of the Central Asia air rail intermodal transport business has broken the single mode of relying heavily on traditional air transport for goods from Southeast Asia to Central Asia, and fully released the resource superposition effect of the linkage between the airport and the railway port.

Four priority compression station stay

The efficient operation of air rail intermodal freight relies on the solid guarantee of railway transportation. The Logistics Department of China Railway Chengdu Bureau takes the lead in coordinating the allocation of train capacity, establishing a linkage mechanism between dispatch, transportation and other departments, and implementing full monitoring and control over the entire process of receiving, loading, hanging, and port handover to ensure that air cargo entering the port can be transferred and loaded at any time. Chengdu Railway Logistics Center has established a special service team to optimize the operation process of the freight yard, implement transportation organization measures such as priority acceptance, priority air allocation, priority loading, and priority hanging, and maximize the compression of the stay time of goods at the station to support the efficient implementation of air rail intermodal transportation business with stable schedules and full process services. The seamless connection between air freight entering the port and railway exiting provides a reliable guarantee for the normal operation of the channel. Keywords: the Belt and Road news network, logistics, airport

Reduce comprehensive logistics costs by 80%

In terms of serving enterprises, this channel accurately solves the pain points of cross-border logistics. According to Li Hongru, the logistics manager of Sichuan Wangtuan Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., the owner of the goods, in the past, shipments from Southeast Asia to Central Asia could only be made by charter air freight, which took only about two days but was costly. After sufficient communication with the manufacturer and consignee, the enterprise chose the air rail intermodal transportation mode. Although the transportation time increased, the comprehensive logistics cost was significantly reduced by about 80%, and the transportation capacity was greatly increased, greatly enhancing the market competitiveness of the product. With the normalization and large-scale operation of air rail intermodal transportation in Central Asia, the level of openness and multimodal transportation services of Chengdu International Railway Port will continue to improve, providing more efficient and economical logistics options for trade between Southeast Asia and Central Asia.Editor/Gao Xue