On July 7, 2020, Russian Railways stated that it has developed a new container transportation route from China to Europe.

It is reported that the line departs from the Xinzhu Station in Xi'an, China, and arrives at the Xinjerzhens Base Station of the Kaliningrad Railway. The journey time from China to Kaliningrad is 11 days. At present, the transportation of the test line has been completed.

According to the Kaliningrad Railway Bureau, there are plans to leave two trains each week from Xi'an, China to Mannheim. The number of trains to be shipped on this line may increase in the future.

Despite the epidemic, from January to May 2020, China’s container transportation to and from Europe has been growing. The total scale of China’s container transportation to and from Europe increased by 35% year-on-year, reaching approximately 167,000 standard containers.

Hiro, deputy general manager of Russian Railways, previously stated that the demand for railway transportation in Eurasia is increasing. The railway transportation has the advantages of stability and reliability, which are required by the market. Therefore, despite the epidemic situation and the difficult economic situation, this year's investment plan retains all projects related to transit transportation to the greatest extent.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to increase the volume of railway container traffic crossing Russia by 2024. In order to promote the cross-border transportation industry, the Russian Railways developed the railway and sea route from Xi'an, China to Duisburg, Germany in April 2020 and established a joint venture with Belarus and Kazakhstan to launch a container train route from Belgrade, Serbia to Wuhan, China . In addition, the Russian Railways began to implement preferential rate policies for empty cars returning from Europe to China in April.

As an important country along the Belt and Road Initiative, Russia actively responds to the initiative and develops a cross-border transportation industry. With the rapid development of China-Russia cross-border transportation industry, related transportation solutions will also emerge, so wait and see! Editor/Tian Zengpeng