China's Gansu opens new road-rail freight service

A China-Europe freight train loaded with household appliances set off Friday from Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province to Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.

Luo Zhe, deputy director of the administrative committee of the International Land Port of Gansu (Lanzhou), said that it was the first railway-highway-railway China-Europe freight route launched in China.

The commodities from south China's Guangdong Province weigh 230 tonnes with a total value of 2.6 million U.S. dollars. They will be transported to Kashgar in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region by train and loaded onto trucks to Osh, Kyrgyzstan via road, and finally reach Uzbekistan's Tashkent by train.

The whole journey is about 4,380 km long and takes seven to ten days, saving about five days compared to other routes.

The returning train is expected to carry 525 tonnes of cotton, imported from Uzbekistan.

Initiated in 2011, the China-Europe rail service is considered a significant part of the Belt and Road Initiative to boost trade between China and countries along the routes.