The first rail shuttle between China and the Netherlands is a fact, states press release of the Port of Rotterdam. The Chengdu-Tilburg-Rotterdam-Express crosses Kazakhstan and Moscow and reaches its destination ‘door-to-door’ in 15 days.

The service is arranged by the Chinese rail operator CDiRS and its Dutch partner, RailPortbrabant, part of the GVT Group. The first train passed in June, and now the service is in full operation. Today this is a weekly service, but the operators plan to run it five times a week as of late next year.

The shuttle provides a fast land connection between Chinese cities and European destinations. Chengdu is connected by railway to Shanghai, Ningbo, Wuhan, Yiwu, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Nanning and Kunming, as well as to Vietnam and South Korea. And from Rotterdam cargo is shipped by short sea to the UK, Scandinavia and Portugal.