UK oral care sprays, French anti-blue-light eye creams... On December 16 at 10:00 a.m., the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) Imported Goods (Bonded) Store located on the second floor of Hankou Railway Station was bustling with visitors. The store brings together thousands of specialty products from more than 20 countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, covering over ten categories including cosmetics, maternal and baby products, household daily necessities, food and beverages. “I’m pleasantly surprised! I never expected to find so many international brands at a railway station near my home,” said Ms. Lu, a passenger waiting for her train, who took the opportunity to purchase several gifts for her family.
With the sound of train whistles carrying a history of cooperation and development, and the Silk Road extending across continents, the China-Europe Railway Express continues to promote connectivity, mutual benefit, and win-win cooperation. December 16 marked the 12th Belt and Road International Day. As a core area of the Belt and Road Initiative in central China, a new hub for high-level opening-up, and a strategic node along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China Railway Wuhan Group Co., Ltd. actively supports national development strategies and promotes high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. As of December 16, the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) had operated 868 trains in 2025, including 488 outbound trains, an increase of 21.6% year-on-year, and 380 inbound trains, up 11.2% year-on-year.
At 19:04 on December 14, inside the dispatching office of Wujiashan Station operated by the Hanxi Railway Operations Section, station operator Yu Chaofan gave a clear instruction to the driver: “Train X8183, departure signal cleared from Track 9 toward Xingu.” Minutes later, accompanied by a long whistle, the train slowly departed from Wujiashan Station, passed through the Horgos border port, and headed toward Europe.
Moving from stable growth to improvements in both volume and quality, the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) has achieved a major operational upgrade. In 2025, Wuhan railway authorities worked with local logistics enterprises to implement the “four priorities” principle — priority allocation of containers, priority allocation of trains, priority loading, and priority dispatching — while carefully controlling every operational step, reducing transit time, and ensuring safe and punctual train operations.
Wuhan railway authorities and Hanou International Logistics Co., Ltd. actively connected with key manufacturing enterprises across Hubei Province, developing customized logistics solutions for different companies. Through the “consolidation and collective transportation” model, cargo from the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions is gathered in Wuhan, improving train loading efficiency and overall economic performance.
To achieve balanced two-way operations, Wuhan railway authorities have adopted an “integrated domestic and international development” strategy, expanding import services together with commercial departments while establishing overseas networks in Germany, Poland, Russia and other countries to organize return cargo sources. As a result, return train operations have achieved significant year-on-year growth.
In October 2025, the scheduled outbound China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) service achieved high-frequency operation of eight trains per week. The Wuhan–Duisburg route in Germany has maintained a stable transportation time of approximately 15 days, becoming a regular and high-quality international logistics corridor.
With cranes operating, vessels moving, and railway tracks interconnected, a busy logistics network is taking shape. At 14:00 on December 15, at Xianglushan Station of Yangluo Port, a gantry crane accurately transferred containers from the “Hanhai 5” river vessel onto railway flatcars. The containers then departed via the Alashankou border port. This was the ninth China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) train launched from Xianglushan Station since the second half of 2025.
Yangluo Port, the largest container port in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, has become the second departure station of the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan). It enables seamless connection between the “Golden Waterway of the Yangtze River” and the “Steel Silk Road”, allowing cargo to transfer directly from ships to trains, reducing intermediate procedures, improving efficiency, and lowering overall logistics costs.
Li Jie, Director of International Marketing at Hanou International Logistics Co., Ltd., said that the launch of Xianglushan Station as the second departure station will attract more enterprises from the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions to choose Wuhan as a cargo transportation, loading, and transfer hub. The integration of railway and waterway transportation hubs will further strengthen Wuhan’s strategic role in the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the Belt and Road Initiative, enhancing Hubei’s position in global industrial and supply chains.
Since the beginning of this year, the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) has continued rapid development, expanding from major trunk routes to a more comprehensive multi-level transportation network. While strengthening core routes to Moscow and Hamburg, the service has continued to develop new international corridors.
On November 25 at 9:00 a.m., at Dongfeng Motor (Wuhan) Co., Ltd. located in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, complete sets of new energy vehicle components manufactured in Wuhan were directly loaded into containers and prepared for shipment to Uzbekistan and Russia via the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan). Supported by the “Steel Silk Road”, Hubei’s high-end manufacturing industry is accelerating its global expansion.
In recent years, leveraging the advantages of the Yangtze River Golden Waterway, the China-Europe Railway Express (Wuhan) has successfully launched more than ten international multimodal transport routes, enabling Eurasian cargo transportation through rail-sea intermodal services to reach Japan and South Korea. A “2+N” multimodal transport system has been established, with Wujiashan Station and Yangluo Port as the two core hubs, supported by secondary consolidation and distribution centers in cities including Jingzhou and Jingmen, Hubei Province.
