The first freight train departed from the Tapu station in Xinxiang, China’s Henan Province, to the Central Asian countries on March 29, Xinhua reported.
The train will cross Taiyuan, Yinchuan, Zhongwei, Urumqi, then will cross the border into Kazakhstan and will then pass Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The service will run once a week and the train is expected to carry 150,000-200,000 tons of freight annually.
The train will carry mechanical equipment, rubber, inflammable materials and other goods to the Central Asian countries and will carry back various raw materials.
Recall, China opened new freight service to Central and Southern Asia in June last year.
According to Xinhua, a new rail freight service from north China's Baoding city to Central and Southern Asia became operational on June 16, 2017.
The train loaded with 1,000 tons of goods such as textiles, electronics and machinery parts, reached Kashgar in the south of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region where the goods were distributed to six countries by road.
In mid-February 2016, the first freight train to travel the old Silk Road arrived in Tehran, bearing goods from China’s eastern Zhejiang province and making the journey through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in 14 days — compared with around 45 days by sea, Financial Times reported on May 10, 2016.
Xinhua reports that the first international freight train from Baoding ran to Belarus in April 2016.
Encouraged by the Belt and Road Initiative, more than 20 Chinese cities now run trains to Central Asia and Europe.
