First China-Europe public freight train (Xi'an-Prague) launched

The China-Europe Chang'an freight train (Xi'an-Prague) departed from Xi'an International Trade and Logistics (ITL) Park on Jan 1, marking the departure of the first freight train in 2020.

It was also the start of the freight train's public operation, laying a more solid foundation for the high-quality development of the train service.

The freight train will leave the country via Khorgos Port in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and arrive in Prague, in the Czech Republic, after passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland.

The journey covers 9,623 kilometers in 12 days, three days shorter than the previous schedule.

It is the first public train line created by ITL Park and China Railway Container Transport Corp (CRCT). In the initial stage, it is scheduled to operate four times a week, two outbound trips and two inbound trips.

Public trains, like "public buses", have fixed departure times, stable running times throughout the journey, and low cost.

In 2019, the freight train made 2,133 trips, transporting 1.8 million metric tons of goods – 1.7 times and 1.5 times more than in 2018.