On December 2, the trial operation for express delivery was launched on the Daxing Airport Express of Beijing's rail transit system. Statistics indicate that it takes only around 20 minutes to convey goods from the downtown area to Beijing Daxing International Airport via this line, thereby saving 20 to 40 minutes compared with road transportation.

The first batch of parcels delivered through the Daxing Airport Express arrived at Caoqiao Station.

[Photo by Wang Guibin from The Beijing News]

During the pilot phase, JD Logistics will serve as a partner to transport air documents by utilizing the remaining capacity of luggage compartments during off-peak periods. This move has improved the efficiency and convenience of express delivery and enabled breakthroughs in unmanned escorting and passenger-cargo separation.

A station's staff workers handing over luggage to a delivery person

[Photo by Wang Guibin from The Beijing News]

After packing the goods into boxes, the staff workers push them into the designated cargo carriages of the Daxing Airport Express.

[Photo by Wang Guibin from The Beijing News]

This pilot program is a critical move of Beijing to promote the green transformation of its logistics sector and achieve the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" goals. It is also a major exploratory effort to integrate air and rail transport models and to seek greater synergy between the urban areas and the airports. Moving forward, Beijing will continue exploring novel models for the integrated development of urban rail transit and logistics distribution, to continuously drive the sustainable development of its urban freight transport sector.

(Source: The Beijing News)