China-Europe Freight Trains Keep Running Non-Stop

Economic Daily, Page 2, February 23, 2026

With a long whistle, a China-Europe freight train (Madrid-Yiwu Train) loaded with 100 TEUs of daily necessities, hardware tools, and festive goods slowly departed from Yiwu West Railway Station, heading toward the Eurasian continent. As a "steel camel fleet" connecting China and Eurasia, the growing number of trips and expanding coverage of the Zhejiang China-Europe freight train (Madrid-Yiwu Train) have injected vitality into the economic development of countries and regions along the route.

According to statistics from Hangzhou Customs, in January 2026, Zhejiang's China-Europe freight trains (Madrid-Yiwu Train) operated 346 trips, with customs supervising 28,000 TEUs of import and export containers, representing year-on-year increases of 13.1% and 11.8% respectively. During the 2026 Spring Festival holiday (February 15-23), the trains maintained their "non-stop" operations, with plans to run more than three trains daily.

The containers for this shipment were uniformly designed by Yixinou Trade Service Group Co., Ltd., featuring the striking city logo "A City of Integrity and Righteousness, Yiwu of the World" painted on the exterior walls, spreading Yiwu's "Six Righteousnesses" spirit—centered on integrity, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, chivalry, and trustworthiness—to both domestic and international audiences. Additionally, this year China Media Group's Spring Festival Gala established a sub-venue in Yiwu, vividly showcasing the vibrant energy of the "World's Supermarket" and incorporating China-Europe freight train elements into the program. The imagery of the "steel camel fleet" connecting and serving the world beautifully complemented the Chinese New Year celebrations of family reunions across the nation.

"This year, Zhejiang's China-Europe freight trains (Madrid-Yiwu Train) have not only achieved double-digit growth in shipment volume, but also feature a rich variety of import and export goods," said Zhou Huawei, Chief of Section II of Yiwu Customs Supervision Department, holding a customs declaration form. Export cargo includes automobile engines and mechanical equipment, while return import trains are fully loaded with "foreign New Year goods" such as red wine and dairy products, enriching the domestic market.

Faster than sea transport and more cost-effective than air freight—Zhejiang's China-Europe freight train has become the choice of many logistics companies thanks to its efficient and stable transportation services. "In January this year, we handled more than 3,600 customs declarations for exports via Zhejiang's China-Europe freight trains, achieving fully paperless declarations, facilitated customs clearance, and visualized data tracking throughout the entire process, significantly improving efficiency," said Chen Jiawei, a staff member of Yiwu Tongou Customs Declaration Agency Co., Ltd.

The reporter learned that to ensure efficient train operations, Yixinou Group, in collaboration with Yiwu Municipal Market Development Committee and Yiwu International Land Port Group, has worked with customs, railway departments, and other relevant authorities to precisely formulate operation schedules, optimize operational procedures, strengthen customs clearance support, and achieve efficient coordination across the entire chain of dispatching, loading/unloading, and transportation, fully serving the domestic and international dual circulation.

Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of GACC. The GACC version shall prevail.