Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province in Northwest China, and Yinchuan in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, have recently been jointly selected by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport as the national comprehensive freight hub city, aimed at strengthening the industrial chain.

Goods are loaded into a freight plane at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. [Photo/Xi'an Daily]

Over the forthcoming three years, the two cities, Xi'an and Yinchuan, will be granted a combined maximum subsidy of 3 billion yuan ($420.08 million) from the central government. Notably, as the leading city in this initiative, Xi'an will receive up to 2 billion yuan of the allocated subsidy funds.

In order to accelerate the construction of a modern and high-quality national comprehensive transportation network, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport have decided to focus their efforts on supporting approximately 30 national comprehensive freight hub cities for strengthening industrial chains over a period of three years.

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

This will promote significant improvements in the utilization efficiency of transportation capacity, the quality of transportation services, and the sustainability of operational mechanisms of comprehensive freight hubs.

The joint application plan of Xi'an and Yinchuan includes a total of 47 projects, with a total investment of 31.23 billion yuan. Of that, Xi'an has 35 projects with a total investment of 24.78 billion yuan.