Han Ximin

ximhan@126.com

A CHINA Railway Express train, carrying 35 containers of freight worth nearly 32 million yuan (US$4.88 million), left Yantian container port in Shenzhen on Saturday en route to Kashkar, Xinjiang, marking the huge progress of Shenzhen’s aid work in Xinjiang.

After a five-day, 6,100-kilometer trip to Kashkar, the train, carrying 800 tons of cargo, which is mainly electronic products, machinery, household appliances, porcelain, textiles, garments and parts for movable rooms, will continue its trip to Pakistan, Kyrghizstan and Tajikistan.

Rail transportation is cost-competitive compared to air service and time-competitive compared to marine shipment.

Opening the train service is one major action officials from the Guangdong Provincial Government and Shenzhen Municipal Government have taken since visiting Kashkar this June and deciding to help Kashkar become an important logistics hub under the Belt and Road Initiative. Kashkar Free Trade Zone will also play a role in creating a logistics passage between Shenzhen and Central and Southern Asian countries. Shenzhen has been designated to help Kashkar in an aid program that pairs a developed city with a less developed one.

According to Shenzhen’s aid office, the new logistics passage that links southeastern China and northwestern China will play a significant role in transferring labor intensive industries and helping industrial development in Xinjiang.

This is the second overland rail link that Yantian Port has opened under the Belt and Road Initiative.

This May, Yantian Port launched a freight train service from Shenzhen to Central and Eastern Europe.

The first train passed through Alashankou City, Xinjiang, Dostyk of Kazakhstan and Moscow of Russia, before arriving in Minsk of Belarus, after covering 9,900 kilometers in 13 days to deliver products made in Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities to consumers in Europe. On the return trip, the train carried agricultural produce, equipment and industrial materials made in European countries back to Shenzhen and other Pearl River Delta cities.