China-Europe rail trade set for infrastructure upgrade, with container traffic up 30 per cent

China Development Bank will provide additional funding support to upgrade the China Railway Express, which links 89 Chinese cities with 23 countries in Europe

According to China Railway, 13,817 trains carried 1.33 million 20-foot equivalent units along the route in the first 11 months of the year

Reading Time:2 minutes

The railway network between Europe and China is a key component of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to link Asia, Europe and Africa with a network of ports, motorways and railways. Photo: EPA

Published: 10:30pm, 30 Dec 2021Updated: 12:14am, 31 Dec 2021

China’s largest policy bank has pledged additional funding support to upgrade a key railway link to Europe at a time when both sea and air transport links are struggling from various coronavirus-related pressures.

China Development Bank will support the construction of key domestic port stations with bonded warehouses for the China Railway Express, as well as creating hub projects with multimodal transport functions and a strong international influence, according to the state-backed Financial News on Thursday.

The bank will also provide funding to help accelerate technology development and equipment upgrades, which will assist in reducing transport costs and improving efficiency.

The railway network between Europe and China is a key component of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to link Asia, Europe and Africa with a network of ports, motorways and railways.

The China-Europe rail programme, which links 89 Chinese cities with 23 countries and 175 cities in Europe, has become an alternative to global sea and air transport which have been both impacted by the coronavirus. Rail transport is generally cheaper than the faster air route and faster than seaborne freight.

The upgrades will help expand rail networks, bonded warehousing, multimodal transport, logistics parks, distribution centres, port construction, cross-border e-commerce as well as import and export processing.