Hunan Fuels International Freight Trains

A China-Europe freight train dedicated to Sinoboom products pulled out of the Changsha International Railway Port on January 31, 2024. (Photo/Lu Yi)

On January 31, a China-Europe freight train fully loaded with Sinoboom's aerial work platforms started off from Changsha, heading for the countries in Europe. In the first month of 2024, a total of 150 China-Europe freight trains have either departed from or arrived in Changsha, including 62 trains dedicated to exporting goods.

"Compared with the marine transportation, the China-Europe freight train service can save nearly one month of transportation time, ensuring higher efficiency and greater convenience for delivering goods to European clients," said a Sinoboom manager.

In recent years, Hunan has accelerated in-depth integration of the international freight train service with the competitive industries. More and more Hunan-made products have been exported via various transportation routes, such as  the China-Europe freight trains, the Huaihua-ASEAN freight trains, and the Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal train service.

In 2023, Changsha has handled more than 230 China-Europe freight trains dedicated to the export of the automobiles and parts, construction machinery, and other equipment manufacturing products of Zoomlion, Sany, and Geely Automobile. The total value of these products has doubled over the same period in the previous year.

Currently, the proportion of cargo value from local enterprises in Hunan accounted for 52% of that of the goods transported by the China-Europa freight trains departing from Hunan, which was 12% higher than that in 2022. The Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transportation service has been launched in Zhuzhou, Hengyang and Chenzhou cities, operating 622 trains which increased by 127% year on year. A total of 455 Huaihua-ASEAN freight trains have been handled, up 201% over the previous year.

Relying on the Huaihua International Land Port, a Huaihua-based food company has sent two teams overseas, one promoting hybrid rice in Laos and the other promoting rice noodles in Southeast Asian countries. It has explored a new "ASEAN resources – Hunan-made products – RCEP" business pattern. The export value of its rice noodles is anticipated to hit 60 million CNY in 2024. 

So far, Changsha has launched 14 regular routes for the China-Europe freight train service, linking 100 cities of nearly 30 countries in Asia and Europe. The return freight train service has basically realized normalized operation. The Huaihua-ASEAN freight trains can reach Hanoi of Vietnam and Vientiane of Laos directly. The Hunan-Guangdong-Africa rail-sea intermodal transportation has been dovetailed with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and linked with the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, African, and Latin American regions.