At 17:00 on October 20, 2021, a fully loaded 2014 return China-Europe freight train completed wide and quasi reloading at Dostek Station in Kazakhstan, then entered Alashankou by quasi rail and departed to Tuanjiecun Station in Chongqing. This is the 50th China-Europe (Central Asia) freight train to complete reloading and entry since the railway authorities of China and Kazakhstan conducted reloading tests at the port of delivery of the return (entry) China-Europe freight train at the end of June 2021, marking a major innovation in the transportation organization of the China-Europe freight train and the addition of a new mode.

"Iron and steel camel trains" travel to and from Mercedes, connecting the Eurasian continent. Nearly 50 percent of China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains enter and exit China via Alashankou and Khorgos railway ports.

In the container changing depot of Line 23 of Alashankou Station, a newly arrived inbound and returning China-Europe freight train stops on the broad rail line for broad rail changing operation. There are frequent arrivals and departures of China-Europe freight trains. On average, one China-Europe freight train needs to be reloaded every one and a half hours.

"Since 2021, the number of China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains at Alashankou port has continued to grow, and the number of return freight trains has grown rapidly. As of October 20, the number of return China-Europe freight trains has increased by 32.4% year on year, reaching an average of 7 trains per day, two more trains than the same period last year, and the capacity is tight." Pang Jianwei, deputy director of the operation workshop of Alashankou Station of China Railway Urumqi Bureau Group Co., LTD., said that inbound trains to Central Europe (Central Asia) need to be reloaded at stations, which is a key link in determining the efficiency of freight trains.

Since China uses the international standard gauge, while some countries in Central Asia and Europe use the international broad gauge, and China and Kazakhstan have different gauge, container reloading should be carried out at the entry and exit of the China-Europe freight train to ensure that the China-Europe freight train can run smoothly on the tracks of different countries.

"In the past, when returning to Central Europe (Central Asia) by the broad rail line entry, need to complete the wide rail, quasi rail replacement in China, and then through the quasi rail to the mainland." Zhang Bin, freight organizer of Alashan Station operation Management Department, said that the reloading operation is mainly responsible for the reloading by the freight train connecting to Central Europe (Central Asia).

Under the new situation of regular epidemic prevention and control, the number of China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains at Alashankou Railway port has continued to increase. In order to improve the transportation efficiency of China-Europe freight trains, the railway departments of China and Kazakhstan have strengthened in-depth cooperation after many consultations. In line with the principle of "big in and big out, fast in and fast out", they have actively coordinated the Kazakh Railway to reload some of the return China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains at the port of delivery, and further optimized the transportation organization mode of the freight trains.

"The overseas reloading of inbound freight trains involves multiple links such as bills and customs inspection. After more than three months of trial operation, a perfect operation process has been formed. The stable operation of the reloaded return freight train at the port of delivery has added a new transportation mode for the Central Europe (Central Asia) freight train, which is nearly one-third shorter than the original operation mode." Zhang said.

Under this new mode, after some of the return China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains are reloaded at Harfang port station, the staff of Alashankou Station will complete the bill verification and commercial handover in advance. After the return freight trains arrive at Alashankou port, the agent will be informed to input manifest information in the first time.

Compared with the original return train transit through Alashan Railway port, this mode eliminates the operation links of pushing the return train into the line, changing the loading and pushing the train out of the line at Alashan Railway station, and reduces the operation time of the inbound train by 5.3 hours.

"In order to do a good job in the service guarantee work under the new mode, we connect with railway and transport enterprises in real time, grasp the entry and exit operation of the freight train, simplify the procedures, complete customs clearance work in the first time, and help the acceleration of the freight train departure." Alashankou Customs supervision of the second deputy section chief Xu Yueheng said.

In order to ensure the efficient passage of China-Europe (Central Asia) freight trains, Alashankou Customs actively implements the "10+12" service measures of General Administration of Customs and Urumqi Customs in support of China-Europe freight trains, integrates informatization and intelligence into the service measures, and forms the "43210" special service measures of China-Europe freight trains. A special window has been set up to open up a green channel for China-Europe freight trains, and measures such as 24-hour customs clearance, paperless declaration, automatic verification and release, and instant transmission of electronic customs release information have been implemented to simplify customs clearance procedures for freight trains. For import trains, "second-level clearance" can be achieved, and for export trains, customs clearance procedures can be completed within 20 minutes at the earliest. We will intensify the consolidation of manifests, and "all manifests should be returned" that meet the conditions of "six similarities", so as to improve the efficiency of declaration and reduce the cost of declaration for enterprises. Along at the same time, deepening cooperation, support trains to expand business scope, in "new Europe" "new Europe" chongqing central class as carriers, such as carrying mail and cross-border business, strengthen the contact and cooperation with the railway departments work closely, parallel operation, further optimize the process of deep cuts in trains port customs clearance time as a whole. Editor/He Yuting