New Silk Road milestone: more traffic eastbound to Chongqing

ID 38755488 © Xianghong Wu | Dreamstime.com

The China-Europe rail connections are seeing a surge in eastbound volumes, with rail traffic from Europe into Chongqing exceeding westbound traffic in 2018. Rail Freight claims this is the first time eastbound volumes have usurped westbound in recent history. Total volume-growth between the Chinese city and Europe exceeded 100%, coming in at 117% growth year-on-year. While Chongqing has been the first to report its numbers, there is some optimism that a similar story may be repeated in other Chinese rail freight gateways as the country looks to address the traditional trade imbalance, which has led to costly empty return journeys.