China-Europe fast rail brings mutual benefit

Trains made nearly 180 round trips between Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province and Lodz, Poland, in the last two and a half years.

Since 2013, three trains a week have made the 9,826 kilometer trip on the Chengdu-Europe fast rail, reaching Poland via Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus.

"Commodities are transported to Europe within 15 days," said Xu Pingfu, vice director of the Chengdu logistics office. "It is the fastest freight railway between China and Europe."

Around 300 trains will ply the route in 2016, which will extend to Hamburg in Germany and Tilburg in the Netherlands. Commodities from coastal cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xiamen are transported to Chengdu and from there to Europe because of the line's low cost and high reliability.

"The price of transporting commodities on the Chengdu-Europe line is one fifth of the air freight cost, and it is three times faster than shipping," said Xu.

Chengdu will spend a total of 1.9 billion yuan (300 million US dollars) in the next three years building China's largest international railway port, said Chen Zhongwei, director of Chengdu logistics office.

Many leading exporters are considering moving to Chengdu for these reasons, according to Chen.

"We aim to be the pivot between Europe and Pan-Asia by building international railways and establishing a European commodity distribution center in the next three years," Chen said. Endi