Chongqing - The third session of the inter-provincial consultation and cooperation joint meeting on the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor (ILSTC) is set to take place in Chongqing on November 1. 

Tuanjiecun Station, serving as a pivotal crossroads for China-Europe freight trains and the ILSTC in Chongqing, has developed rapidly over the past decade. Countless railway workers toil tirelessly on the front lines. Yi Li, a freight dispatcher at Tuanjiecun Station, is one of them.

Twelve years ago, Tuanjiecun Station was a small station surrounded by farmland, with more than 20 employees responsible for picking up and delivering several passing trains daily. Twelve years later, it has become an international first-class station with more than 600 employees and stevedores, and its annual handling capacity has increased to 700,000 standard containers. Changes started in 2011. On March 19 of that year, the first China-Europe freight train (Yuxinou) departed from Chongqing Tuanjiecun Station. Originally a small fourth-class station located between farmland and villages, it has gradually developed into the city’s only first-class railway logistics base and the largest container station in Chongqing Railway Hub. It is known as “a pivotal hub of BRI and a crucial node for connectivity.”

Yi Li is a freight dispatcher at Tuanjiecun Station, and his primary responsibility involves facilitating seamless coordination among three vital departments: operations, freight, and loading and unloading. He took up the position of freight dispatcher in 2013 when the BRI was proposed. Both were exactly ten years ago; he said this connection holds significant meaning for him.

“My role parallels that of a messenger, transmitting critical information to colleagues in key positions, enabling them to perform effectively,” Yi Li said. He always quickly gets back to work after each shift, completing the work he has done in this position like a “screw” day after day, year after year.

Talking about the past decade, Yi Li stated the transformation was remarkable. “In 2013, our office was just situated in a small power distribution room. Initially, we only had two or three trains each week, but now we see dozens. Back in 2013 and 2014, we handled the loading of 200 to 300 train carriages per day, but our current record exceeds 1,000. The expansion is evident in the increase from two to four container lines and the shift from five to eight goods yard lines.”

With Tuanjiecun Station as its central hub, the China Railway Express to Europe (Yuxinou) boasts nearly 50 established routes spanning 100 cities across 40 countries. By June 2023, a total of 74,000 China-Europe freight trains had transported nearly 7 million TEUs of over 50,000 types of goods worth over USD 300 billion. As of September 2023, Chongqing had transported 546,000 TEUs of goods worth 90.65 billion yuan (about USD 12.39 billion) via the ILSTC.

The past decade has witnessed the gradual transformation of Tuanjiecun Station into a pivotal hub of BRI and a crucial node for connectivity; it also has mirrored the 10-year dedication of railway workers like Yi Li. “I find deep satisfaction in knowing that my work contributes to the safe departure and return of every China-Europe freight train,” Yi Li said.

(Duan Jiale, Zhang Hengyu, and Lang Yuli, as interns, also contributed to this report.)