BEIJING -- A record 12,400 China-Europe freight train trips were made in 2020, up 50 percent from the previous year, according to China's railway operator.

This is the first time freight train trips between China and Europe exceeded 10,000 per year, said the China State Railway Group Co Ltd.

The trains transported 1.14 million twenty-foot equivalent unit containers last year, up 56 percent year-on-year.

The solid performances of the freight trains can help boost the construction of a new development paradigm and facilitate global cooperation to fight COVID-19, the railway operator said.