60th China-Europe freight train leaves Guangzhou

A China-Europe freight train loaded with high-quality goods — including food, household appliances and electronic accessories — departed from a logistics park in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area on Tuesday. It was headed for Almaty, Kazakhstan. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A China-Europe freight train loaded with high-quality goods, including food, household appliances and electronic accessories, departed from a logistics park in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on Tuesday, heading for Almaty, Kazakhstan.

It was the 60th train of the China-Europe freight service departing from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area since January of this year, Guangzhou Railway Group said. It was scheduled to arrive in Almaty within half a month.

A growing number of countries and regions have become frequent destinations for the China-Europe freight service. The GBA has developed nine departure stations in four cities within the area so far, the railway said.

Additionally, goods being exported to Europe via train from the GBA have expanded from the initial household appliances, clothing, shoes and hats to more than 1,000 high-quality products, including electronic and mechanical equipment, epidemic prevention materials, hardware tools and new energy products.

"The transportation of goods via the China-Europe trains can help save nearly two-thirds of the time compared with ordinary shipping services, and at 40 percent of the cost of air transport," said Jin Yibing, a railway transportation expert.

The China-Europe freight trains have helped send 235,000 TEUs, or standard 20-foot equivalent unit containers of goods, and nearly 1.13 million metric tons of production and living and epidemic prevention materials since regular operations began in the GBA seven years ago, the railway said.