A China-Europe freight train fully loaded with goods departs from Beijing on September 11, 2025, heading to Almaty, Kazakhstan, marking the official launch of the Beijing-Almaty China-Europe (Central Asia) freight train. Photo: VCG

In the first eight months of 2025, the China-Central Asia freight trains operated 9,626 cross-border runs, up 22.7 percent year-on-year, setting a new record for the same period, with 751,000 TEUs of goods transported, representing year-on-year increase of 31.1 percent. 

As of August 31, the China-Central Asia freight trains has cumulatively operated over 69,000 runs, transporting more than 5.19 million TEUs of goods, China Media Group reported on Monday.

With the opening of channels such as the China-Laos Railway and the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the China-Central Asia freight trains have reached over 100 cities in 11 Asian countries, covering 128 cities across 28 provincial administrative regions in China, according to the report.

With the continuous improvement of the China-Central Asia freight train's transport capacity and service quality, the range of goods transported has expanded from initial items like second-hand cars in transit to 22 major categories, including new-energy vehicles, photovoltaic products, and machinery equipment, peopledaily.cn reported. 

Goods from Central Asia, such as cotton yarn, antimony concentrate, wheat bran pellets, and barley, as well as tropical fruits, fertilizers, and iron ore from Southeast Asia, are entering the Chinese market. Meanwhile, "Made in China" products like new-energy vehicles, photovoltaic modules, electronic products, and daily necessities are rapidly reaching various Asian countries and regions, according to peopledaily.cn.

Transport efficiency of the freight trains continues to improve. For instance, the transit time for the China-Central Asia freight train from Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu Province, to Almaty in Kazakhstan, has been reduced from 10 days in 2014 to 6 days now. With the launch of the cross-border e-commerce special train in 2024, the journey from Yiwu Small Commodity City in Zhejiang to the Tashkent market in Uzbekistan takes only 10 days, with costs 80 percent lower than air freight, said the people.cn.

As of now, Beijing International Land Port has operated a total of 13 China-Europe (Asia) freight trains, transporting over 1,300 TEUs, with a cargo weight exceeding 10,000 tons and a cargo value of nearly 200 million yuan, becoming a rapidly rising key international logistics hub in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China Media Group reported.




Global Times