Since 2011, the port of Alashankou (in Xinjiang Region) has been the major westward passage for China Railway Express (CRE) to go abroad. According to Urumqi Customs statistics, till September 23 this year, Alashankou Customs House cleared inward and outward CRE trains totaling 10,412 units, which went on 14 routes reaching European countries such as Russia, Poland and Germany. 

On the basis of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, the CRE has become one of important public brands with increasingly growing capacity. The goods it carries have been expanded to more than 200 kinds including electronic products, food, wine, clothes and automobiles, registering substantial increase in added value of transportation. 

In order to speed up the CRE clearance, Alashankou Customs House has stabilized the train operation mode and formulated the time standards for various processes: reducing the time for technical train inspection and shift change from 40 minutes to 20 minutes, reducing the port clearance time from 12 hours to 6 hours, limiting the containers reloading time to within 6 hours, and limiting overall train reloading time within 30 hours; the Customs also set up special CRE service counter to provide preferential clearance with 24-hour service, releasing the trains inward and outward upon their arrival.