At 16:30 on June 7, the X8020 train with 100 TEUs departed from the CRE platform of the Jinyi New Area. This CRE train is loaded with machinery parts, electronic products, and daily necessities, with a value of about 21 million RMB. It will depart through the Dzungarian Gate in Xinjiang and arrive in Budapest, Hungary, in about 18 days. This is the first CRE train bound for Hungary from the Yangtze River Delta, marking the further cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries.

Since the launch of the CRE trains in November 2014, more than 3,000 trains and 250,000 TEUs have been shipped. At the national level, the CRE is a landmark project for in-depth implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative; at the provincial level, it is a strategic hub that connects land and sea, east and west, which influences the surrounding areas; at the municipal level, it provides support to construct Jinhua as a national comprehensive transportation hub.

The annual operation of CRE trains is planning to run 1500 times at minimum, and aims to reach 1800 times if possible, striving to run more than 3,000 trains per annum by the year 2025. (By Xu Zhaohui, translated by Wei Han, edited by Kendra Fiddler)

The first Jinhua-Hungary CRE launches (photographed by Hu Xiaofei)