China Continues to Maintain Railway Cooperation with Many Countries

August 21 was a good day for the Belt and Road initiative. The Sino-European freight train to Hamburg, Germany, departed from Xi'an, China. This was the 10th China-Europe freight train to sail since the beginning of the year.

On the same day, the Electric Multiple Units (EMU) and Comprehensive Inspection Train (CIT), exported from China to Indonesia, to be used on the high-speed rail line between Jakarta and Bandung, departed from the port of Qingdao to Indonesia.

The two developments in question contain the same keyword: railway. In recent years, China has continued to cooperate with many countries in the field of railways. This cooperation has given great impetus to the economic and social development in the countries concerned.

For example, thanks to the Sino-European train services, the port of Duisburg, located in Germany's former industrial center Ruhrgebiet, has once again become the logistics center of Europe.

According to the data, so far, China-Europe freight trains pass through 82 lines and go to 24 cities of 200 European countries. The number of trains operating is approximately 2011 times higher than in 900. The variety of goods carried by the trains exceeded 50 thousand, and its value reached 300 billion USD.

Indonesian citizens on the Jakarta-Bandung railway route will also benefit greatly from this project. After the high-speed train between Indonesian capital Jakarta and the country's fourth largest city Bandung enters service, the journey between the two cities is expected to be reduced from 3 hours to 40 minutes. In addition to saving time, according to Indonesians, the high-speed train will bring new development potential and a new lifestyle to the region.

From the China-Europe freight trains to the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, these fruitful results in Belt and Road construction have witnessed China empowering the world to close the "development gap" and advancing joint development.

The number of countries that have signed the Belt and Road cooperation document with China so far has exceeded 140. In 2021, the trade volume between China and the countries along the Belt and Road route reached 11 trillion 600 billion yuan. China's direct investment in countries along the Belt and Road route reached 138 billion 450 million yuan. As the world's largest public product, the Belt and Road brings tangible benefits to the world.