Cargo trains link China, Germany

A cargo train linking Germany and northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region began operation on Saturday, local authorities said.

It takes ten days for the train to reach Germany's industrial city of Duisburg from Xinjiang's regional capital Urumqi over a distance of 8,000 km, during which it goes through Kazakhstan, Russia and Poland, said Xu Yongxin, general manager of the company that undertook the project.

The outbound trains transport Xinjiang specialties such as chemical products, tomato sauce and textiles, while the inbound trains bring back food, furniture, mechanical and electrical products, and health products.

It is a cargo train route with the shortest distance between China and Europe, which is at least 2,000 km shorter than other similar China-Europe cargo train routes and saves two to three days in time.

Xinjiang now operates several cargo train services to central Asia, Russia and Georgia.