BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- The year 2018 coincides with the fifth anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Over the past five years, China has joined hands with other countries along the Belt and Road in establishing cooperation bridges, enhancing infrastructure construction, intensifying traffic density of China-Europe freight trains and building "air corridors", in a bid to facilitate policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bond, thus blazing a development trail towards common prosperity.
-- China-Europe freight train works as a major link
On July 9, the China-Europe freight train (Xiamen-Budapest) departed Haicang station, Xiamen city, south China's Fujian province on schedule. This marks not only the maiden trip of China-Europe freight train from China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone directly to Budapest, capital city of Hungary, but also the launch of Xiamen’s another new direct line to Europe following the direct lines from Xiamen to Poland’s Poznan, Germany’s Hamburg and Duisburg and Russia’s Moscow.
"With 41 containers full of electronics, shoes, hats, bags, suitcases, miscellaneous goods, building materials and other commodities, this train has reduced the travel time from Xiamen to Budapest by 2 to 3 days to 17 days. Therefore, with the operation of this line, the transportation efficiency of goods from Xiamen to European cities will see a remarkable improvement," Zhao Liqiang, head of Haicang Station said.
As the first European signatory to the cooperation agreements under the China-initiated BRI, Hungary now has emerged as an important logistics hub in Europe for Asian countries including China. China-Europe freigh train routes starting at Haicang station has seen an increase in number from one to five. So far, 260 trains have been operated, delivering goods worth 4.59 billion yuan.
According to a director with China Railway Corporation, since the launch in March 2011,China-Europe freight trains have developed into a major link between China and other countries along the BRI routes to ensure infrastructure connectivity and unimpeded trade. Over the recent five years, the China-Europe freight train service has made a remarkable progress in both traffic density and breadth.
"China-Europe freight trains have seen a constant improvement in operation efficiency. In the first half of this year, 2,497 trains have been operated, a year-on-year increase of 69 percent. Specifically, the number of return trains reached 1,014, up 100 percent over the previous year, and accounted for 68 percent of the total departure trains, up 16 percent over the previous year," the director added.
As of the end of this June, the number of trains has hit 9,000, delivering nearly 800,000 TEUs and covering 48 domestic cities and 42 foreign cities across 14 European countries. Thus, the China-Europe train service has established a transportation network reaching the main areas of the Eurasian continent.
--Infrastructure underpins dreams of happiness
With China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation Ltd. (CCECC) under China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) as the construction organizer and leading operator, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway started commercial operation on January 1, 2018. Over the past six months, the volume of freight and passenger traffic has seen a stable rise and the strong transportation potential has been unlocked in a progressive and effective way. Since its operation, the passenger throughput has reached a total of 55,000, indicating that it is shaping well as the favorite transport mode for the people of Ethiopia and Djibouti. Since this July, Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway has enjoyed another spike in passenger throughput. During the July 1-27 period, it received 21,000 passenger trips and the trains were nearly filled to capacity every morning.
Five years on, railways, as a signature of China's infrastructure construction capacity, have kept expanding their presence in countries along the BRI routes. Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has made major strides, gaining ground in a barrage of milestone works; Laos-China Railway has commenced in an all-round way; Serbia section of Hungary-Serbia railway and China-Thailand railway Phase I have started; Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT) project in Lahore, Pakistan has been advanced in a pragmatic manner.
By virtue of leading-edge technology, top-notch quality and high-quality service in infrastructure construction, China has given a boost to local economic and social development and tangible benefits to people of the BRI countries. Every new transportation line will provide good soil for people’s dreams of happiness.
--Transportation connectivity makes a major breakthrough
On July 3, Chengdu-London direct flight by Air China completed its maiden flight, setting off another important "air corridor" linking Southwest China with European countries.
According to a director with Air China, over the past five years, the airline has actively responded to the Belt and Road Initiative and shifted its stakes in international air routes to countries and regions along the Belt and Road. Meanwhile, it has opened a series of international air routes over the past five years such as Beijing-Bombay, Beijing-Minsk-Budapest, Beijing-Warsaw, Beijing-Astana, Beijing-Houston-Panama, Chongqing-Dubai, Shanghai-Bangkok and Hangzhou-Nha Trang so as to facilitate economic and trade exchanges between China and other BRI countries.
"During the past five years, transportation connectivity under the BRI has made great headway. 356 international passenger and freight road routes have been opened and 403 international air routes have been added with nearly 4,500 direct flights weekly to 43 countries," said Wu Chungeng, spokesman with the Ministry of Transport.
According to Wu, to dovetail development plans of the BRI countries, the Ministry of Transport has teamed up with relevant countries in laying down a series of strategies and plans, and signed agreements on policy and transportation cooperation with 16 countries and 2 intergovernmental organizations.
As to sea transportation, China has participated in the construction and operation of 42 ports in 34 countries such as Piraeus Port in Greece, Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka and Gwadar Port in Pakistan. With global presence of sea transportation service in all coastal countries, China has led the globe in terms of sea transportation connectivity index. (Edited by Yang Yifan, yangyifan@xinhua.org)
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