Cargo goes the distance, and drivers take it one step at a time

For Zhong Junlan, taking the helm of a China Railway Express train is like running a relay race. "I drive to point A," he said, "and then another driver takes over, then another, and so on, until the cargo reaches its final destination."

It is a race he has been running since 2013, when he was chosen to drive the first leg of the inaugural cross-border freight service from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, to Lodz in Poland.

The journey to Guangyuan, 360 kilometers up the track, takes on average more than five hours, he said. From there, about 50 drivers will steer the cargo in shifts the rest of the way, some 9,466 km, over about 12 days.