On July 14, a cargo train loaded with 3,560 metric tons of steel departed from Houma, a city in North China's Shanxi province, bound for Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. 

This marked the launch of Shanxi's "Next-Day Delivery" train for transporting steel, establishing a new logistics supply chain that reduces costs and delivery times for steel products between production and consumption regions.

Shanxi is one of the country's major steel-producing provinces, while Sichuan is a major manufacturing province with a high demand for steel. This train, composed of 50 carriages, carries construction and pipe materials produced by Shanxi's steel companies, such as Shanxi Jinnan Iron and Steel Group and Shanxi Jianbang Group.

The train operates under a "passenger train" model, covering a distance of approximately 1,500 kilometers with a travel time of only 24 hours. It terminates at the Dawanzhen Railway Station in Chengdu, acting as a "steel bus" between Shanxi and Sichuan.

According to Chang Hailong, general manager of Shanxi Jianbang Iron and Steel Logistics Company, the "Next-Day Delivery" train service has reduced transportation time from the previous six days to just one day. This significantly cuts logistics time and costs, allowing for better fulfillment of market demands and alleviating inventory pressure while accelerating capital returns.

In the future, the "Next-Day Delivery" train will operate every other day with a fixed schedule, running time and route so as to serve as an efficient and stable cargo transportation channel for Shanxi and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.