On December 11, the Yangtze River Express celebrated its one-year anniversary of regular service. On this day, its 1799th and 1800th trains of this year departed simultaneously from Xianglushan Railway Station in Wuhan and Chengxiang Railway Station in Chengdu's Qingbaijiang, respectively, bound for each other. This achievement indicates that the express has met its annual operational target 20 days ahead of schedule.

The Yangtze River Express is a rail-water intermodal train service launched by Sichuan Province to overcome the difficulties faced by vessels when navigating through the Three Gorges Dam area and to enhance the transportation capacity of the Yangtze River golden waterway. The service, which commenced operations on December 10, 2023, achieved its first target of operating a thousand train trips in just eight months. Luo Sheng, Head of the Transportation and Marketing Department at the Shudao Railway Operation and Management Grou p and General Manager of the Shudao Train Branch, explained that the Yangtze River Express is the fastest-growing train service in Sichuan, evident both in its increase in the number of operating services and the shortest time taken to reach a thousand train trips.

In terms of timing, the Yangtze River Express bypasses the congestion at the Three Gorges locks via rail transport, significantly improving the efficiency of the logistics operation. For instance, in the case of "Grain into Sichuan", the conventional transportation route typically requires two crossings at the Three Gorges Dam, resulting in a total duration of 15 to 30 days. Switching to the Yangtze River Express for direct dam crossings cuts the time needed to around ten days.

In Chengdu, the Yangtze River Express establishes a seamless integration with the China-Europe Railway Express, creating an extensive logistics channel from the west to the east. To this point, they have efficiently handled the transfer of over 27,000 standard containers. During peak periods, 30 percent of the China-Europe Railway Express trains passing through Chengdu have their cargo transported further by the Yangtze River Express trains. To the eastward, the service extends river and sea routes. Through docking with cities along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, it has developed a unique "Yangtze River Express + Yangtze River Ferries" product, pioneering a new "direct river-to-sea" rail-water intermodal transport service. Through this service, the transport of Brazilian pulp to Deyang is streamlined into a "one-stop cross-border" logistics delivery over an extraordinary distance of 17,000 kilometers.

In conjunction with the operation of the Yangtze River Express, Sichuan collaborates with cities and businesses along the river's middle and lower reaches to establish a specialized service platform and persistently enhance cost-effectiveness, quality improvement, and efficiency increase in transportation and logistics, resulting in a reduction of total logistics expenses for enterprises exceeding 134 million yuan. Through the measures of discounted railway rates along the route, port discounts, and dedicated subsidies from local governments, the overall logistics cost for the entire route has been decreased by 260 million yuan.

After a year of operation, the Yangtze River Express has emerged as a major logistics channel for Sichuan's eastward export and opening up. The Yangtze River Express has successfully transported 92,184 standard containers, carrying 2.44 million tons of goods, and the total value of the cargo transported has reached 11 billion yuan. Its service has expanded to 160 routes, covering 38 stations across 14 cities in the provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan. The range of goods transported has expanded from the initial focus on production materials for resource-intensive enterprises within the province to now include over 50 high-value-added products, including automotive parts, machinery, foodstuffs, and pharmaceuticals.