But the direction is shifting too, as trains returning from Europe to China are now creeping ahead of those heading west.
The figures come from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which presented them at a press conference in Beijing this week. Liang Linchong, director-general of the NDRC’s Department of Regional Opening-up, said two-way volumes were «close to balanced». But his own figures show the balance has already tipped, with 9,360 trains running from Europe to China between January and October against 9,301 heading the other way. That puts the return-to-outbound ratio at 100.6%.
Return trains have been close to matching outbound runs for most of the year. In October, the NDRC said they had numbered more than 90% of outbound trains in each of the previous nine months. «Chinese consumers can buy quality European goods such as Spanish wine and Dutch cheese directly through the China-Europe Railway Express trade platform,» said Liang.
«Trains are running loaded out and loaded back, full in both directions, and overall logistics costs have fallen significantly.»
More generally, China-Europe volumes are still climbing. The China-Europe Railway Express, the umbrella brand covering container train services between China and Europe, ran 18,661 trains between January and October, up 14.6% on the same period last year. Those trains carried 1.865 million TEU, up 11.2%, with the figures including trains to and from Russia. The loaded-container rate has stayed at 100% for 50 consecutive months as of October, Liang said.
Daily trains across the Caspian
Trains on the Middle Corridor now run every day, Liang said, while the northern, central and southern corridors are «running safely, stably and smoothly overall». In total, the network has made more than 140,000 trips, carrying goods worth over $560 billion, and now reaches 237 cities in 26 European countries.
The Trans-Caspian forms part of the southern corridor, which has grown far faster than the network as a whole this year. China State Railway Group figures reported by Xinhua show 746 trains used it from January to September, up 125% year on year, though that is still a small share of the network.
The NDRC is also expanding «full-timetable» services, which run with fixed train numbers, routes, schedules and running times. Liang said 22 such trains a week now run between nine Chinese and six European cities. «Companies can arrange production and transport around the timetable, precisely match overseas orders and greatly improve turnover,» he said.
Plans to 2030
Liang set out four priorities for China-Europe trains over the 2026–2030 Five-Year Plan period. China will «coordinate rail, road, sea and air, and actively open new multimodal routes,» he said, and work with countries along the routes «to better keep the corridors safe and open». The other two priorities are smoother transport organisation and customs clearance, and digital, intelligent and green operations.
The NDRC’s October update on the network points the same way. The six main border crossings have handed over an average of 51.2 trains a day this year, up 12.8%, and May set a monthly record of 1,965 trains and 197,000 TEU. New equipment, including 40-foot liquid container bags and refrigerated containers, has also widened the range of goods China imports by rail. Preparatory work is under way on second cross-border standard-gauge lines at the Alashankou—Dostyk crossing with Kazakhstan and the Manzhouli—Zabaykalsk crossing with Russia, to raise capacity at the border.
