China-Europe freight train sends anti-virus supplies to Spain

A worker directs container hoisting operation of a China-Europe freight train at a logistic station in Xinzhu Railway Station in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 11, 2020.(Photo by Tang Zhenjiang/Xinhua)

The donation included 110,000 surgical masks and 766 protective suits.

HANGZHOU, March 21 (Xinhua) -- A freight train carrying donated face masks and other anti-coronavirus supplies departed Yiwu city in east China Saturday morning for Madrid, Spain.

The donation included 110,000 surgical masks and 766 protective suits. It was the first China-Europe freight train to carry anti-epidemic supplies to Europe, which will arrive in Madrid in about two weeks.

There will be no transportation charges for any institutions, groups or individuals that donate anti-epidemic supplies to Spain. The train from Yiwu to Madrid will increase frequency from one trip a week to two trips per week, said Feng Xubin, CEO of the Yiwu Tianmeng Industrial Investment, a private operator of the train service.

Since November 2014 when the first freight train was operated from Yiwu to Madrid, some 1,200 trains have carried over 96,700 containers to Europe.