China's Hunan sees surge in China-Europe freight train service

CHANGSHA - Central China's Hunan province launched 783 China-Europe freight trains in the first three quarters of this year, up 84.7 percent year-on-year, local customs said on Oct 21.

The freight trains, handled by customs in the provincial capital Changsha, shipped 512,000 tons of cargo with the value of the goods reaching 13.9 billion yuan (about $2 billion) in the Jan-Sept period, up 68.5 percent year-on-year and 22.7 percent, respectively.

Since the launch of the China-Europe freight train service in Changsha, the cumulative number of trains has exceeded 2,000.

Four new routes were launched this year linking Changsha with Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Kazakhstan. The main export items transported through the cross-border train service include daily necessities, furniture, automobiles and auto parts, and lamps.