New freight train service links east China city with Mongolia

NANJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Xuzhou, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, has launched a new freight train service to Mongolia, and the train is expected to arrive in Ulan Bator on Aug. 1.

The freight train, fully loaded with 100 TEUs of goods, will pass through the border port of Erenhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region before reaching Ulan Bator within six days.

The train carried about 440 tonnes of goods valued at 1.4 million U.S. dollars, including motorbikes, aluminum empty cans and security doors.

Xuzhou's China-Europe freight train services have maintained a strong momentum this year, completing 230 trips from January to June, an increase of 91.7 percent year on year, and completing a trade volume of 277 million U.S. dollars. The city has launched such services with more than 50 cities in 20 countries along the Belt and Road.

China has been Mongolia's biggest trading partner and the top source of foreign investment for 18 consecutive years. The bilateral trade volume hit 9.12 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 35.3 percent year on year.