In May 2011, the first direct China-Europe freight train departed from Chongqing in southwest China for the German city of Duisburg. That year, only 17 such trains traveled between China and EU countries.
The China-Europe freight rail service network expanded rapidly in the following years. As of late October this year, 82 routes had been established, reaching 204 cities in 24 countries. These routes had handled 62,000 trips, transporting 5.76 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers of goods, according to China’s statistics.
The rising demand for rail freight is reflective of the economic partnership between China and the European bloc, which has been booming since 1975 when China established diplomatic relations with the European Economic Community, a precursor
