The One Document System Empowers Multimodal Transport, Painting a New Picture of International Trade‌

The "One Document" System Empowers Multimodal Transport, Painting a New Picture of International Trade‌

On January 7th, the world's first international railway-sea multimodal "one document" bill of lading, based on the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the Carriage of Goods by Sea, was issued in Chongqing. Machinery and equipment with a value of approximately RMB 3.02 million departed from Chongqing, were transported by rail directly to Qinzhou Port in Guangxi, and then transferred to a sea vessel for shipment to Hai Phong Port in Vietnam.

Transport Capacity Assurance, Enhancing China's Market Competitiveness.‌ The railway sector has continuously expanded its transportation network, providing logistical support for the construction of the Western Land-Sea New Corridor. In 2025, the trains on the Western Land-Sea New Corridor transported 1.425 million standard containers of goods, a 47.6% year-over-year increase. To attract customers to choose this rail service, China Railway Nanning Bureau promoted "negative list" management for containers, expanding the range of transportable products to over 11,000 items, essentially covering all suitable cargo sources. The railway department has also increased the number of scheduled train services according to transportation demands along the corridor. To date, the Western Land-Sea New Corridor has a total of 44 scheduled train services, an increase of 21 compared to the end of 2024. This golden logistics corridor not only makes enterprises in central and western China more competitive in the international market but also attracts global goods to converge in China.

Technological Innovation, Efficiently Empowering the Transportation Process.‌ In recent years, the railway 95306 platform has continuously innovated, achieving full journey tracking of goods and real-time information sharing. Customers can fill out waybills on the 95306 platform, which automatically places orders based on customer needs, allowing customers to track the entire journey of their goods. This has changed from the original "customer running around" to the current "data running around." The 95306 platform has transformed traditional customs clearance methods, achieving information interconnectivity and highly coordinated operations between railway and customs departments. It has eliminated manual declarations and paper documents, allowing customers to complete customs clearance, railway destination changes, and other procedures without leaving their homes. The convenience and efficiency of customs clearance at ports have been significantly improved, with the time from declaration to customs release reduced from the original half a day to within 30 minutes. This innovative service model reduces enterprise operating costs and demonstrates the precision and professionalism of railway services.

Collaborative Synergy, Promoting the Upgrade of Trade Facilitation.‌ The railway department focuses on multimodal transport "one document" system, "one container" system, and smart logistics as key areas, painting a development blueprint for China's logistics industry of "standard-led, efficient synergy, green and intelligent." During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the freight department of China Railway Urumqi Bureau established a freight logistics alliance, continuously increasing the efforts of "road-to-rail transport conversion." In 2024, the total freight volume of the entire railway network reached 237 million tons; in 2025, the total freight volume broke through 200 million tons 19 days earlier than in 2024, achieving consecutive years of freight volume exceeding 200 million tons.

In 2025, Xinjiang Railway vigorously developed logistics general contracting and contract-based transportation, expanded the scale of multimodal transport "one document" and "one container" transport, and regularly operated freight trains for rural revitalization, cold chain, e-commerce, and express delivery. It pioneered the first nationwide railway-air multimodal transport e-commerce freight train, and the first nationwide integrated international rail transport "one document" logistics general contracting projects were implemented in Xinjiang, continuously promoting the quality and efficiency improvement of railway logistics services.

Looking ahead to the new journey of the 15th Five-Year Plan, it is believed that the railway department will provide better logistics products and higher service quality, making the Western Land-Sea New Corridor even more unimpeded and efficient, and contributing more railway strength to building an open, inclusive, and interconnected new pattern of international trade.