The year’s first China-Europe train operated by China Railway Harbin Bureau leaves Harbin on Jan 20. [Photo/harbin.gov.cn]

Train X75024 departed on Jan 20 from Harbin International Container Central Station, in the capital city of China’s northernmost Heilongjiang province, to Moscow in Russia.

The 49-carriage train will leave the country through the Manzhouli land port in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region and finally arrive at its final destination in Russia after a multi-day journey.

It was the first China-Europe freight train launched by the China Railway Harbin Bureau in Heilongjiang province in 2021.

Since the China Railway Harbin Bureau opened the first Harbin-Moscow China-Europe train route in 2016, the Harbin International Container Center Station has operated a total of 273 China-Europe trains, sending 7,279 vehicles and 200,000 metric tons of cargo.

To ensure the smooth operation of the train and meet the time targets for cargo transportation, the Harbin station coordinated with the customs department in advance to help customers communicate and handle related business operations and optimize the transportation organization plan.

According to customer needs, they also selected and organized containers to improve the efficiency of loading. On average, port operators can load one container every five minutes.

For goods transported from Heilongjiang province to Russia's central region, international freight trains are about 75 percent cheaper than transporting goods by air.

Meanwhile, railway freight transportation is more than 66 percent faster and 25 percent cheaper than road transport.

The stable operation of the China-Europe train route has attracted more new customers.

The products on the outbound train from Harbin include auto parts, machinery and equipment, chemical products and daily necessities. The return train will mainly transport goods such as plates, auto parts, machinery and equipment.