In the first half of the year, the China-Europe Chang'an freight train made a total of 1,791 trips and transported 1.52 million metric tons of goods, leading the way in terms of the number of runs and volume of containers shipped.

Due to its wide route network, fast transportation times and low costs, the freight train has become the prime choice for more and more enterprises in their bid to go global.

A China-Europe Chang'an freight train departs from Xi'an. [Photo/Visual Xi'an]

One of them, Zhongji Kaitonv (Shaanxi) Logistics Development Co – based in the Xi'an International Trade and Logistics (ITL) Park in Xi'an, capital city of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – has used the freight train for four years.

"In the past, it took us more than 20 days to send goods from Xi'an to the Horgos Port in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and then transport them to Kazakhstan by truck," said Zhang Yan, customer service manager of the company. 

"Now with the China-Europe Chang'an freight train, it only takes six days to travel the same distance, with the time shortened by two-thirds,” Zhang added.

"This has also really eased the pressure on our corporate capital turnover".

Goods are loaded onto trucks at the container center in ITL Park. [Photo/Visual Xi'an]

While serving international logistics, one of the freight train's operators – Xi'an Free Trade Port Construction and Operation Co – has developed a supply and demand matching trading platform for trade and manufacturers, to promote more commerce and to attract more manufacturers to settle in Xi'an.

Currently, the China-Europe freight train (Xi'an) assembly center is speeding up construction of 18 support projects costing 20 billion yuan ($2.97 billion), and advancing the upgrade and renovation of facilities such as highway and railway express lines and customs inspections.

Moving forwards, plans are for ITL Park to expand the Eurasian land-sea trade channels, reduce business capital costs and explore its service models, to provide enterprises with one-stop international transportation services for bookings, customs declarations, finance and other things.

The China-Europe Chang'an freight train is now seen by many as the top choice for enterprises to go global. [Photo/Visual Xi'an]