New train links China and Milan

Source: Xinhua | 2018-08-06

A new freight train linking east China’s Shandong Province with Milan in Italy started service on Friday, making it the newest China-Europe freight train route.

A 41-container train carrying clothing, electronic products, and machinery departed from Yanzhou North railway station in Jining, on Friday morning. The train will run every Friday.

The 10,900-kilometer journey, which makes a stop in Chengdu for customs clearance, will take 18 days, said Zhang Benhong, deputy head of the railway station.

Direct services will be launched between Shandong and Europe on August 31. Trains from Yanzhou North will ship goods to cities including Warsaw in Poland and Hamburg and Duisburg in Germany via Russia and Belarus.

By end-June, China-Europe freight trains had made over 9,000 trips since the service began in 2011, delivering 800,000 20-foot equivalent units. The trains operate between 48 Chinese cities and 42 cities in 14 European countries.