With a long whistle, a freight train coded X8426 and loaded with electronic products, garment and machinery left southern China's city of Guangzhou Saturday morning, heading for Vorsino, Kaluzhskaya Oblast inRussia.
The Guangzhou-Russia freight train was inaugurated a year ago.
Over the past year, a total of 43 trains have run on the route, delivering more than 17,000 tonnes of products, worth 236 million U.S. dollars, from Guangzhou to Russia.
It takes the train 15 to 18 days to reach Vorsino, about 10 days less than the sea-rail transport service, and 25 days less than a ship. The costs are just one-third of air transportation.
"Our train runs once per week and were fully loaded from March this year, one of the highest loading rates among all China-Europe routes," said Huang Zhongxi, general manager of Guangzhou Dashunfa Logistics, the train operator.
Kong Zhi, from Guangzhou customs, said they had set up a window for China-Europe trains and had significantly raised the clearance efficiency.
More than 20 Chinese cities now run trains to central Asia and Europe.