Even cars sometimes take the train

Hou Haijing, group vice-president of Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group Co Ltd.

Rail becomes transport of choice for Geely Group in Chengdu

Train workers busily load dozens of containers carrying cars onto the train at the station in Chengdu. But this is no ordinary freight train.

It is the only one in China that regularly sets out to the five central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, running every 10 days and taking about five to seven days to pass through them to its ultimate destination.

"Some international railways such as this one that connect Chengdu with the rest of the world are helping us build our international business," says Hou Haijing, group vice-president of Zhejiang Geely Holdings Group Co Ltd, the largest private carmaker in China.

Hou, the director of Geely in Chengdu, also known as Chengdu Gaoyuan Automobiles Industrial Co Ltd, says it has been a huge beneficiary as the railways of western China have developed.

"A railway system for a city is as critical as arteries and veins are to the human body," Hou says.

"A complete railway system is essential for a city to grow properly. The rapidly growing railways of western China have added greatly to the region's growth."

Geely's Chengdu plant covering 150,000 square meters was built at a cost of 3 billion yuan ($480 million; 424 million euros), and opened in 2011. It employs 1,500 people.

The local company is critical to the Geely group's success, Hou says.

"It is Geely's only factory that focuses on producing SUVs. All of our SUVs are made here. We started to use the Central Asian international line when it opened last year, and as a result our exports from Chengdu have risen almost 15 percent compared with 2013."

The SUVs made in Chengdu go to 10 countries and regions including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine.

"We plan to make full use of the international railways in Chengdu and make made-in-China vehicles world famous," Hou says.

"We don't export our cars to Europe and the United States now, but we plan to soon."