10 innovative achievements of China's free trade zones in 2018

3. Sichuan introduces a new model of transport consolidation

The Qingbaijiang Area of the Sichuan Free Trade Zone has created an innovative cooperation model for inland and border areas by transporting domestic and foreign trade goods in the same train.

For the China Railway Express trains traveling from Chengdu to Europe, domestic and foreign trade goods can share the same train and the containers of domestic trade goods will be replaced in Urumqi by those with foreign trade goods. For the China Railway Express trains traveling back from Europe, the containers of foreign trade goods will be replaced in Urumqi by those with domestic trade goods.

The model solves the China Railway Express problem of "low overload rates, waste of empty containers and high costs"; maximizes the utilization rate of containers; and reduces the operation costs, Wang Junjie, an expert, said.