Continental routes for the delivery of goods from China to Europe and back over the past decade have come a long way, from test train shipments to the creation of stable, full-fledged railway container transportation routes. 

In the first five months of 2020, the total value of mutual trade between the EU and China carried out by railway transport, increased by 21.22% year-on-year (47.42% more in May than in January 2020) . This development allowed rail transport to increase its share in the total trade volume from 2.83% in January-May 2019 to 3.47% in January-May 2020.