China, Europe join hands to speed up rail cargo transit

WARSAW - Almost 20 meters high and crossing three rails, the Chinese made railway cargo inspection system that has recently been put into operation at the Polish customs makes inspection process possible without stopping or slowing down running trains.

Thanks to the world's largest train container inspection system, the transit and customs clearance time of China Railway Express (CRE) - which conducts freight transportation between China and Europe - are significantly shortened.

Since the inauguration of the CRE, joint efforts involving railway departments, customs, as well as commodity and border inspection agencies have been made to give green light for the whole transit process.

These cross-sector collaborations include streamlining customs clearance procedures, reducing rail-changing time and revising freight standards, among others.

Dong Jianmin, vice chairman of the Railway Cooperation Organization Committee headquartered in Warsaw, said that since May 1, 2017, unified waybills have been applied to all CER trains bound for Germany and France, further raising efficiency.

In addition, the locomotives have been sped up from 80 km per hour to 120 km per hour so as to achieve quicker arrivals, according to Dong.

Mateusz Burkowski, a 27-year-old wholesaler of clothes, described the bonus brought about by the train's acceleration by citing a Chinese proverb "time is money."

Burkowski sells over 1,000 Chinese made clothes to clients including those in Ukraine and Bulgaria every day in a shopping complex owned by GD Poland International Ltd.

Located some 25 km southeast of Warsaw, the place, also known as the Chinese Trade Center, is the largest distribution site in middle-eastern Europe for goods and products made in China and whole Asia, according to the company's website

Burkowski said he used to ship the clothes by sea, which would cost him 30 days. Now with the CRE, delivery time has been reduced to just 15 days.

Nobert Dierks, logistics and transportation planner of German automaker BMW, told Xinhua in a recent interview that delivery time via CRE from BMW's plants in Germany to China's industrial districts in the northeast region has been cut from 30 days in 2011 to 17 days now.

Meanwhile, retail and logistic giants such as Amazon and DHL have also benefited from the time-saving and cost-effective CRE services, expanding their business scope by sending small packages via CRE.