First China-Europe Freight Train to Serbia Sets Off

The first material dedicated train for the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway set off from Jinan South Railway Station, in the capital of East China's Shandong Province, on Sept 24 and is expected to arrive at its destination in late October.

China Railway Materials Group Corporation (CRM) is in charge of the freight train operation.

Staff members of CRM as well as the Shandong Bureau of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, Shandong High-speed Group, Shandong High-speed Logistics Group Co., Ltd and the Jinan port office attended the setting off ceremony.

The dedicated train mainly carries electrical installation devices, equipment cabinets and components of overhead lines for the Budapest-Belgrade railway construction.

It will transit several countries including Mongolia, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Hungary and complete the entire trip in about 25 days.

To guarantee the construction schedule and lower the logistics costs, CRM designed a maritime-road-air joint transport plan.

In mid-October, the ultra-high and out-of-gauge materials will be shipped from Tianjin Port and unload at Rijeka, Croatia for land transportation and finally terminates at Belgrade. The entire trip will take about 50 days.

In late October, emergency supplies will be air transported to Belgrade in about seven days, transiting at Frankfurt in Germany and Vienna in Austria.

In recent years, CRM has been active in Belt and Road construction.

The company has contracted freight transportation for many overseas railway projects such as the railway connecting China and Laos, the light rail in Lahore, Pakistan and the Jakarta-Bandung railway in Indonesia.

In terms of the Budapest-Belgrade railway, its total distance is about 350 kilometers with a highest designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour. It is a dual-use railway for both passenger and freight transport.

Travel time between Budapest, capital of Hungary and Belgrade, capital of Serbia, will be shortened by about five hours when the railway opens.

It is a result of China's Belt and Road Initiative and an iconic project docking Chinese railway standards with those of the European Union.

The first material dedicated train for the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway sets off from Jinan South Railway Station on Sept 24. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

Staff members of China Railway Materials Group Corporation as well as the Shandong Bureau of the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration, Shandong High-speed Group, Shandong High-speed Logistics Group Co., Ltd and the Jinan port office attend the setting off ceremony of the first material dedicated train for the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)