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First Cargo-Carrying Train Embarks from Kazakhstan to China
22 March 2016
EIRNS—Destined to cover the 3,860 km in six days, the first cargo train, carrying 1,000 tons of sunflower seed oil and 1,000 tons of rapeseed oil, was flagged off on March 20 from Dostyk, Kazakhstan, on its mid-eastern border with China, headed for Xi’an. The Chang’an cargo train is making a return journey along the international railway route linking Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, Xinhua reported today. Xi’an, known in ancient times as Chang’an, is the starting point of the Silk Road — an ancient land trade route that ran through northwest China’s Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang, and central and western Asia, before reaching the Mediterranean. The operation on this route began in November 2013 and the Chang’an cargo train had run the route 162 times, transporting a total of 282,000 tons of goods from China to Central Asian countries with a gross export value of about $290 million. However, in all other times, the cargo train went back mostly, if not wholly, empty. The first cargo-laden journey of the Chang’an train this week could be the beginning of regular import cargo service from Central Asia. Two-way cargo service is expected to boost bilateral trade between China’s western regions along the Silk Road Economic Belt and Central Asian countries, wrote Xinhua. |