Over the past five years, Xinjiang has accumulated more than 2,500 trains between China and Europe, and the foreign trade volume has exceeded 100 billion US dollars.
On June 25th, Xinjiang Urumqi International Lugang District (hereinafter referred to as "Lugang District"), 41 carriages with about 25 tons of tomato sauce were ready to be loaded, and they took the China-Europe train and arrived in Russia about 10 days later.
Xinjiang is the largest tomato production base in China, and its tomato processing industry ranks first in the country in terms of output, quality, export volume and equipment level, and it is also the main characteristic export product in Xinjiang. Statistics show that in 2016, the tomato production in Xinjiang was 9.18 million tons, including 7.61 million tons of "industrial tomatoes".
July-September is the harvest season of tomatoes every year, and the tomato paste sold to Russia at this time is the industrial product of tomatoes in the previous year.
"PVC and ketchup are the most exported products here." Zheng Weiguo, deputy general manager of Urumqi land port Intermodal Transport Co., Ltd., told The Paper that in the past, if Xinjiang’s products were to be exported to Europe, they had to be transported to Tianjin or Qingdao first, and then by sea for 45-60 days; With the China-Europe train, it only takes 10-15 days to export from Urumqi to Europe.
This change has benefited from the planning and construction of the land port area, and it is also a microcosm of Xinjiang’s historical opportunity to seize the "Belt and Road Initiative" and continuously implement the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
According to the data from the Development and Reform Commission of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, up to now, 1,479 foreign-invested enterprises from 68 countries and regions have been approved and put on record in Xinjiang, and there are 834 enterprises at present, with the actually utilized foreign capital of 3.973 billion US dollars. From 2014 to May 2019, the region’s foreign trade volume reached US$ 113.69 billion, including US$ 96.71 billion in exports and US$ 16.98 billion in imports.
The newly-added railway operation mileage is 1,320 kilometers.
In the past five years, Xinjiang has grasped the construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and achieved remarkable results in roads, railways and aviation.
According to the staff of the Development and Reform Commission of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in the past five years, the functions of the three major roads in northern, central and southern Xinjiang have been continuously improved, and the Mingshui-Hami section of the G7 line (Jingxin Expressway) has been completed and opened to traffic, forming the second all-weather traffic artery into Xinjiang; Opened 111 international road transport routes with five neighboring countries; China-Kyrgyzstan-Urumqi highway freight transportation has been normalized.
In terms of railway passage construction, the high-speed railway from Urumqi to the mainland has been networked with the whole country, Karamay — Tacheng Railway was put into operation, and key projects such as the new section of Geku Railway and Hotan to Ruoqiang were accelerated. Since 2014, the region has added 1,320 kilometers of railway operation, with a total mileage of 6,331 kilometers.
In the material yard of Pujia base, steel rails and cement sleepers are neatly stacked beside the transport track. These materials will eventually be transported to the paving site of Geku Railway by train after pre-assembly, and become a part of Geku Railway.
In terms of air passage construction, four civil transport airports have been added, seven airports have been relocated, rebuilt and expanded, five airports are being rebuilt and expanded, and major projects such as the reconstruction and expansion of Urumqi International Airport have been launched, bringing the total number of civil airports in the region to 21. By the end of May 2019, there were 264 flight routes in operation, and 16 countries -20 international cities, 1 regional city and 81 domestic cities were connected with Urumqi International Airport.
In terms of information channel construction, 17 cross-border optical cables were connected with neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which realized the interconnection of communication and information between Xinjiang and neighboring countries, and formed the cross-border layout of international information channels in the west, south and north directions of the Silk Road Economic Belt.
At the same time, the infrastructure of Horgos and Kashgar Economic Development Zones has been continuously improved, and the industrial agglomeration capacity has been steadily improved. China’s first international border cooperation center — — The construction of China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center has been accelerated, and 35 key projects with a total investment of more than 30 billion yuan have settled in the cooperation center, initially forming an export-oriented industrial system focusing on international trade, duty-free shopping, cross-border finance and cross-border tourism, which has become an important window for the whole region to open to the outside world.
The transportation time was shortened by one month.
Supported by China-Europe train shipment, and in line with the idea of "collecting goods, building gardens and gathering industries", Urumqi International Land Port Area will build a production-city linkage development area covering 120 square kilometers with the West Railway Station area as the core.
Liu Shaohua, full-time deputy director of the Lugang District Construction Committee, said that the Lugang District was planned and prepared in 2015, and construction began in 2017, and then entered a stage of rapid development.
According to the data, up to now, Urumqi assembly center has started the China-Europe train — There are more than 2,500 international freight trains in westbound Xinjiang, and 20 train lines have been opened successively, reaching 18 countries and 25 cities in Central Asia and Europe. The goods carried have expanded from the initial daily necessities and clothing products to more than 200 categories such as machinery and equipment, plumbing and building materials, and the speed and scale of train operation are in the leading position in the same field in China.
At the same time, based on Xinjiang’s industrial base, Lugang District has formulated five scheduled train operation plans to speed up the improvement of train operation quality. From January to May, 2019, there were 439 trains, and the overseas return supply was sufficient, which can realize the return to normal operation. It is estimated that there will be more than 500 trains in the first half of 2019.
"Moving the seaport to the doorstep has reduced the logistics cost by about 10%." Liu Shaohua said that Xinjiang is the closest dry port in China to Europe. Compared with the past, the China-Europe trains originating from Xinjiang have obvious advantages in time and cost.
In the future, Lugang District will also focus on "building a garden" and improve facilities and platform functions; Speed up the layout of logistics network around "optimizing logistics supply chain"; Accelerate the development of related logistics industries around "gathering industries". For example, the second phase of the China-Europe train assembly center is accelerated, and it is planned to be completed and put into operation by the end of June this year, when the train delivery capacity can reach 3,500 trains.
On June 25, the big screen in Lugang District showed that a train from the mainland to the Netherlands on June 25 had three empty cabins when passing through the Urumqi assembly center of the Central European train. This also means that enterprises in Xinjiang can organize the supply of goods in advance and take this "ride" to go abroad.
The above information was collected from the platform of land port Intelligent Station in Urumqi. The relevant staff said that the platform has completed the system test and put into trial operation in July this year, which is expected to open up the railway and customs information between China, Eurasian Economic Union and the European Union.
According to public reports, the above-mentioned intelligent station platform will open up the logistics information chain, create a "digital" China-Europe train, and adopt the "one single system+third-party supervision" model to give the railway bill of lading financial attributes. In the future, goods from different routes such as "Chongqing New Europe" and "Zheng New Europe" from the mainland arriving at the Central European Train Assembly Center in Urumqi can be "assembled and transported" with local export freight goods in Xinjiang, so that small quantities of goods from different regions can be assembled and sent to European and Asian countries.
Zhou Kai, executive deputy general manager of Xinjiang land port (Group) Co., Ltd. said that there are dozens of cities in China that operate China-Europe trains, and all of them are empty to a certain extent. By "assembling and transporting", the utilization rate of trains can be improved.
South Xinjiang saves 4-5 hours when going abroad.
Standing up straight, whistling and changing gestures ….. Liu Xiaofeng, with dark skin, is meticulous in his work and seriously directs the workers in construction.
This is the construction site of Kudong Pujia Base of PJS Bid Project Manager Department of Xinjiang Section of Geku Railway of China Railway No.1 Bureau, located in the suburb of Korla City, Bayinguoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang.
Geku Railway, from Golmud, Qinghai to Korla, Xinjiang, with a total length of 1,213.7 kilometers, is the third outbound railway after Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway and Harbin-Ordos Railway. Among them, the main line of Xinjiang section is about 708.182 kilometers long, with a total investment of 22.627 billion yuan.
For southern Xinjiang, the significance of Geku Railway is self-evident.
Luo Peixin, commander of the Korla Railway Construction Command of China Railway Urumqi Bureau Group Co., Ltd., said that after the completion of the Geku Railway, southern Xinjiang such as Hotan and Kashgar no longer need to bypass Hami from the railway, which will save 4-5 hours by car; At the same time, the railway from Hotan to Ruoqiang is also under construction, and the railway network around Taklimakan desert will be born in the future, which is also the only railway network around the desert in the world.
Liu Xiaofeng is 35 years old and has been a railway construction worker for 15 years. His hometown is Baoji, Shaanxi, and he studied track laying in technical secondary school. After graduation in 2004, he joined the China Railway First Bureau and laid railways in Gansu, Guangdong, Shanxi and Guangxi.
In 2008, Liu Xiaofeng came to Xinjiang, and successively participated in the construction of the Urumqi-Zhun Railway, the Harrow Railway and the transformation of Hami Station. Liu Xiaofeng said that it is more convenient for workers to live and relax when building railways in other places and the construction site is close to the city; When I came to Xinjiang, it was sparsely populated and windy and dusty. Many of them were built in deserted places, and I couldn’t see any green, so I was not used to it at one time.
In 2009, when the WuZhun Railway was built, Liu Xiaofeng and other workers had no place to live, so they had to dig holes and set up tents. Located in the north of Xinjiang, there was a lot of snow on the mountain, and a sudden snow came and went straight to their tent. Liu Xiaofeng said that fortunately, during the day, the workers found it in time and quickly used a forklift to block the snow water before they escaped.
After 11 years in Xinjiang, Liu Xiaofeng is used to the extreme climate and hard working environment here. He was confident in his work ability and became a foreman. "More than 40 people listened to my command and adjusted their construction flexibly."
In January 2016, the Xinjiang section of Geku Railway started construction. The beam erection and track laying work of this project was undertaken by China Railway No.1 Bureau, which entered the site in June 2017.
The construction of Geku Railway is an unprecedented test for workers such as Liu Xiaofeng.
Xinjiang section of Geku Railway is difficult to construct because it has to cross high mountains, no man’s land, desert geography, ecological protection zones, etc. Huang Kejun, project manager of PJS standard of Xinjiang section of Geku Railway of China Railway No.1 Bureau, said that it is the most difficult to cross the desert edge area. For example, when workers eat, they are filled with sand in an instant, so they have to wrap the bowl in plastic bags.
Huang Kejun remembers that he spent the night at the construction site, and it was windy and windy at night, even wearing a mask to sleep.
In this regard, Liu Xiaofeng has a deep understanding: the face is full of sand during construction, and eating sand is a common thing; One night the wind was so strong that even the conference room was blown away; Construction in desert areas, there are no grass and trees, the surface temperature can reach 50 degrees Celsius, the rails are very hot, you need to wear thick protective clothing, and your sweat keeps falling off.
Liu Xiaofeng said that the areas where Geku Railway passes are inaccessible, and materials and tools need to be transported from Korla or Golmud, which greatly increases the work intensity and also leads to the extension of workers’ working hours, often 14-15 hours per shift.
During a hard day’s work, Liu Xiaofeng’s most relaxing time is video chatting with his family. His parents, wife and two daughters are all in their hometown of Baoji, Shaanxi Province, and they video chat every day. He will ask his daughter about school, and her daughter will ask him what he ate today and what he did.
With a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan, Liu Xiaofeng will send 7,000 yuan home, which is also an important source of income for this family of six. Every Spring Festival, he can go home and reunite with his relatives. "I miss my family for so many years, but I am used to it."
By the end of 2020, Geku Railway is expected to open to traffic. Liu Xiaofeng knows the significance of Geku Railway. He is not good at expressing it, but only expresses that he is proud to participate in the construction.
In the imagination of the outside world, Geku Railway is expected to become a tourist railway after passing through the "daughter country" and the ancient country of Loulan. From a longer-term and grand perspective, Geku Railway will promote exchanges between southern Xinjiang and Qinghai, Tibet and Southwest China, further improve the land transportation channels between inland China and Central Asia and the Mediterranean, and as an important part of the South Passage of the Silk Road Economic Belt, promote the implementation of the "Belt and Road Initiative".
Express logistics saves 1-2 days.
Travel shoes, white shirt, 34-year-old Pan Sima dressed casually, pragmatic and capable. He is a native of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province. His father has been doing cotton business in Xinjiang for many years. For the sake of inheriting the family business, he came to Xinjiang for development 10 years ago.
In 2015, the South Xinjiang Express Logistics Park, located in the suburb of Korla City, Bayinguoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, was approved. Pansima smelled the business opportunity and planned to jump out of the comfort zone and do a big job.
Pan Sima said that he is very optimistic about e-commerce and thinks that the logistics industry has great development prospects. Just before the various logistics points in Korla were scattered and the environment was messy, the government intended to concentrate on building a logistics park, and the two sides hit it off.
Pan Sima’s company is responsible for the construction and operation of the logistics park. In 2016, the construction of the logistics park began, and in 2017, it began to attract investment. Today, the logistics park covering an area of 1,000 mu has begun to take shape.
According to Pan Sima, at present, the logistics park has developed more than 600 mu, and the second phase is under construction. More than 10 express delivery companies such as SF Express, Zhongtong, Yunda and Shentong have all moved in, handling an average of 200,000 express deliveries every day. Among them, the express delivery from other places is the most, and its number is three times that of express delivery.
In late June, it was the hot season for local small white apricots. Every day, there were tens of thousands of small white apricots that went out from the Nanjiang Express Logistics Park, of which nearly 40% were carried by SF Express.
Pan Sima said that the Southern Xinjiang Express Logistics Park is a logistics transit center in southern Xinjiang. After the completion, the express delivery in southern Xinjiang no longer needs to pass through Urumqi, saving 1-2 days in time and about 1 yuan in cost.
In the express transfer and sorting workshop of South Xinjiang Express Logistics Park, piles of express mails will be sent to various districts, counties and towns after sorting.
In the workshop of logistics enterprises in the park, the workers are busy sorting express delivery by hand. Pan Sima said that compared with the developed coastal areas, the express logistics here is also in its infancy, and the total amount of express delivery is not large, so it is impossible to sort by robots.
In his plan, in the future, Nanjiang Express Logistics Park will be a cross-border e-commerce and radiate to Central Asia and Europe. He said that he is from Wenzhou, and Yiwu wholesale market will come to his mind from time to time. Southern Xinjiang is close to the five Central Asian countries and has favorable policies. I believe that cross-border logistics will have great development potential. (The Paper reporter Chen Xuhou)
