NORTH China’s Shanxi Province launched its first international freight train that runs via the China-Laos Railway on Saturday, according to local railway authorities.

The freight train, loaded with cargo containers including ceramics, paints and fertilizers, departed from central Shanxi for the Lao capital Vientiane. The cross-border train is expected to arrive in Laos in seven days, according to China Railway Taiyuan Group Co., Ltd.

The China-Laos Railway, which kicked off operations Dec. 3, 2021, stretches over 1,000 kilometers, linking Kunming, the capital of Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, with Vientiane.

The newly launched international freight train in Shanxi is expected to upgrade and expand the logistics links between inland areas in North China and ASEAN countries, as well as play a positive role in deepening economic and trade exchanges and accelerating international logistics.

Meanwhile, a freight train left the city of Xuzhou in East China’s Jiangsu Province on Friday for Vietnam’s Hanoi, marking the launch of a new freight train route between China and Vietnam.

The freight train, loading 72 TEUs of glass bottles, plastic products, and maternal and childcare facilities, is expected to arrive in Hanoi within seven days after a journey of about 2,985 kilometers, nearly half the time of traditional waterway transportation.

As an important country along the Belt and Road and a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Vietnam is the third country to which Xuzhou opened international freight train services this year, following Belarus and Mongolia.

The China-Vietnam freight train service operated 173 trips in the first half of 2022, up 19.3% year on year, according to China Railway Nanning Group Co., Ltd. (Xinhua)