BEIJING: When China is all out to combat the novel coronavirus epidemic, its freight trains are also busy running on tracks to transport commodities between Chinese and European cities.
By Feb. 21, the China-Europe Chang’an freight trains running between the western Chinese city of Xi’an and European cities had made a total of 297 trips this year, transporting 146,000 tons of commodities, up 1.89 and 1.8 times year on year, respectively. A green channel has been opened in Xi’an to ensure rapid yet strict checking and loading of commodities before they go through customs formalities, as well as comprehensive disinfection of freight vehicles.
For instance, 5 minutes after the arrival of 7 container trucks from east China’s Shandong province carrying light industrial products at 9:40 am, they went through the first round of epidemic inspection at a designated area near a toll gate, including disinfection, temperature measurement for the drivers, and information registration and verification. Besides, the doors of the truck cabins were all sealed so that the drivers won’t have to go through further checks. The second round of inspection started two minutes later when the trucks drove into Gangwu Avenue, a road leading to the Xi’an International Trade & Logistics Park. At 10:20 am, these trucks were guided by a government vehicle to the Xi’an Railway Container Center Station, where they received the last round of disinfection and information verification, and unloaded the commodities. Later, the commodities were loaded to a China-Europe freight train after customs clearance and shipped to Prague, Czech on the afternoon that day.
This process ensures that vehicles leave immediately after unloading and drivers stay in the cabins to avoid human contact. It is a rapid green channel, and also a safety channel of closed monitoring, said Jiao Jianfeng, deputy director of the port bureau under the administrative committee of the Xi’an International Trade & Logistics Park.
– The Daily Mail-People’s Daily News exchange item
