CHONGQING, June 22 (Xinhua) -- A China-Europe freight train loaded with new 40-foot, 35-tonne general-purpose automobile containers departed from Chongqing in southwest China Monday, marking an innovation that makes rail service transportation of vehicles more efficient.

A drone photo shows a China-Europe freight train bound for Budapest, Hungary before departure at Tuanjiecun Station in Chongqing, southwest China, Nov. 30, 2025. (File photo: Xinhua)

The containers are carrying 182 automobiles from China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd., an automaker headquartered in Chongqing, a major automotive manufacturing hub.

With the new containers, Chongqing is boosting the capacity of China-Europe freight train services to meet growing demand for automobile export transportation.

The 40-foot 35-tonne general-purpose automobile container is an innovative piece of equipment designed for the export of domestically-made passenger cars, according to Guan Yu, manager of the marketing department of the Chengdu branch of China Railway Container Transport Corp., Ltd.

Compared with traditional general-purpose containers, which can carry at most three sedans or two SUVs, the new container can hold up to four sedans or four SUVs per unit, reducing the transport cost per vehicle, according to Guan.

Meanwhile, the new container is designed to be compatible with rail, road and maritime transport, offering more flexible equipment options for building an efficient multimodal transport network, said Huang Man, deputy general manager of Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics Co., Ltd., noting that demand for transporting domestically-made vehicles for export has continued to rise in recent years.