China-Europe cargo railway route is opened

Almaty. May 4. Silkroadnews – Freight train with containers left from Baoding, Hebei Province (North China), to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, meaning the opening of the first cargo train route between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Europe, Xinhua news agency reports.

This first special train transports 41 containers with building materials, shipped from China to Belarus for the construction of a logistics park and student dormitories. The total route length is 9.5 thousand km, journey time 12-14 days. The train will pass through the checkpoint Manzhouli (Manzhouli) Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in Russia and then arrive at the end point of Minsk.

The Beijing railway administration says this route is considered as one of the important measures within “One Belt, One Road” initiative realization (The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road) and the state strategy for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region joint development. This route is expected to become another international land channel to allow the region’s enterprises to go abroad and start developing the international market.

One-two trains carrying plastic products, auto parts, medicinal raw materials and electronic products are planned to follow from China to Europe on a weekly basis.

At present there are three major rail freight routes “China-Europe” formed. The western route passes through the checkpoint of Alashankou in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (northwest China), the central and eastern ones go through checkpoints Erenhot and Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Manzhouli checkpoint is the largest overland checkpoint on the Russian-Chinese border. It serves 18 international freight trains on routes connecting China with Russia, Poland, Germany and other European countries.