On January 16th, an ASEAN Express train fully loaded with goods such as electronic products and auto parts slowly departed from An Yen Station in Hanoi, Vietnam. It will first arrive at Tuanjie Village Station in Chongqing to complete container transloading and marshaling, then load a batch of “Made in Chongqing” products before continuing westward across the vast Eurasian continent, ultimately reaching Europe.
This is not only a microcosm of the regular operation of the “ASEAN Express,” but also marks the official entry into a mature operational stage of a new multimodal transport bidirectional operation model centered on Chongqing as the core hub, connecting the Eurasian continent.
Birth: Not a “New Route,” but “Channel Integration”
The birth of the “ASEAN Express” stems from a profound system integration and model innovation in the process of opening up China’s western inland. Its essence is a backbone transportation system that connects Europe, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, with Chongqing as the strategic pivot, efficiently aggregating resources from multiple international logistics channels, forming a bidirectional circulation system across Eurasia. This model breaks through the limitations of single transport modes, allowing flexible combination of multimodal solutions such as rail-rail, rail-sea, and rail-road based on customer needs, building an efficient, flexible, and adaptable international logistics network for complex supply chain demands.
In the past, if goods wanted to travel from Southeast Asia to Europe via China’s land routes, although channels converging in Chongqing could be utilized, due to dispersed operators and inconsistent service standards, customers faced the dilemma of dealing with multiple parties and segmented responsibilities, making efficiency and stability difficult to guarantee.
To solve this problem, in 2024, Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd. and the New Land-Sea Corridor Operation Co., Ltd. achieved a strategic alliance. Both parties integrated channel resources and operational networks, jointly designed, and launched the “ASEAN Express” as a new logistics product. Its core promise is “one-time entrustment, one container to destination, one bill of lading to destination,” providing customers with a full-process, integrated, and customizable logistics solution from ASEAN through Chongqing to Europe and even Central Asia.
On October 15, 2024, the first “ASEAN Express” successfully departed from An Yen Station in Vietnam, marking the realization of this concept. More symbolically, on June 21, 2025, the first return train departed from Germany, arriving in Southeast Asia via Chongqing, marking the completion of a full closed-loop for this new bidirectional operation model—from concept to reality, from outbound to return—entering a stable development track.
Core: Four Major Advantages Building Core Competitiveness
The “ASEAN Express” achieved the transition from its maiden run to regular operation in a short period, thanks to four significant advantages highlighted after integration, which constitute its fundamental difference from traditional sea freight, air freight, and even simple intermodal transport.
First, high efficiency and speed, with transit time improved by 50%. Through integrated operation and process reengineering, the total transportation time is shortened by about 50% compared to traditional sea freight, with costs far lower than air freight, making it the “golden option” for high-value-added, time-sensitive goods.
Second, green and economical, practicing low-carbon logistics. The rail-based transport model has carbon emissions only 1/7th of road transport and 1/15th of air transport, aligning with the global green transformation trend of supply chains.
Third, complete resources and extensive network coverage. Deeply integrating the global resources accumulated over more than a decade by the China-Europe Railway Express and the New Western Land-Sea Corridor, it has deployed over 40 overseas warehouses and distribution points in more than 20 Eurasian countries including Germany, Hungary, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam, forming extensive and responsive last-mile service capabilities.
Fourth, safety, stability, and reliable, controllable service. Relying on international security cooperation mechanisms, it builds a door-to-door security system and achieves scheduled departures and punctual arrivals through “full-timetable” trains, significantly enhancing supply chain reliability and planability.
Effect: Using Chongqing as a Hub to Leverage Three Major Markets
The operation of the “ASEAN Express” profoundly amplifies Chongqing’s strategic value as a core hub node. Chongqing is no longer a simple intersection point of channels on the map but has been upgraded to an “operational center” for resource allocation and value creation.
Here, relying on a well-developed bonded logistics system and multimodal transport infrastructure, precision instruments from Europe and electronic components from Southeast Asia can achieve rapid consolidation, distribution, simple processing, or deep assembly, realizing efficient bidirectional connection of “technology + intelligent manufacturing + market” between Europe and Asia. This has attracted numerous multinational companies to establish regional distribution centers and settlement centers, promoting industrial upgrading and the construction of an open economy in Chongqing and the western region.
For the vast western inland areas, it provides a “one-stop” land gateway to Europe and Asia. Local specialty products such as chemicals, equipment parts, and agricultural products can all be gathered to Chongqing via a convenient domestic railway network and efficiently board the “ASEAN Express” to reach Southeast Asian or European markets, truly realizing “inland becoming the frontier.”
For Eurasian enterprises, it means supply chain optimization and expanded market opportunities. European medical device companies can now quickly sell products to the rapidly growing Southeast Asian market via the “ASEAN Express,” while procuring electronic component parts from Vietnam and Thailand for the return journey. Chinese enterprises can utilize this channel to deliver specialty foods, daily necessities, fashion consumer goods, etc., to European consumers with better cost-effectiveness and timeliness.
Pattern: Building a “New Green Economic and Trade Corridor” Connecting Europe and Asia
From a broader perspective, the “ASEAN Express” is a model of deep integration between infrastructure “hard connectivity” and rules and standards “soft connectivity” under the Belt and Road Initiative, representing a future-oriented international logistics solution. Through market-driven product innovation, it organically links multiple transport modes such as rail, sea, and road, constructing a new land trade artery connecting Europe and Asia with bidirectional mutual support.
By the end of 2025, the cumulative freight value of the ASEAN Express approached 3.5 billion yuan. Its cargo categories have expanded to include high-end manufacturing equipment, medical devices, cold-chain food, daily consumer goods, and more, successfully linking the three world-class economies of the EU, China, and ASEAN. In today’s world where the economic landscape is undergoing deep adjustment and supply chain resilience is of great concern, this new logistics model—safe, stable, green, and efficient—provides a crucial “infrastructure option” for the optimization and restructuring of global industrial and supply chains.
The train that departed from Hanoi on January 16th is speeding along a track of dual innovation in both physical and organizational models. What it carries is not only the goods inside the containers but also a development philosophy of breaking barriers and integrating connectivity. The “ASEAN Express,” this Eurasian land bridge with Chongqing as its heart and multimodal transport as its lifeblood, is pulsating powerfully, pumping the blood of cooperation and prosperity towards a more interconnected and resilient future.
