The international freight train "Linyi," which travels from Linyi in Shandong province to Gwadar Port in Pakistan via Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has been put into operation, Peoples Daily in a report said on Tuesday. The city of Linyi has over 130 specialised wholesales markets, with its total trading volume reaching 300 billion yuan in 2015. Kashgar is also an important trade port in western China.

In recent years, the cargo trade volume between the two cities has continually increased. In 2015, over 400,000 tons of cargo from Linyi was transported to western Asia via Kashgar. Lian Maoyong, Deputy General Manager of Shandong Asia-Europe International Logistics Company, said that the plywood, hardware and other commodities from Linyi are popular in the West Asia market. Cargo gets transported to Kashgar by train and then transported to Gwadar Port by truck. The whole journey is over 8,000 kilometres and takes 10 days. Compared with sea transportation, the highway-railway combined transport can save both time and money. The Linyi freight train is expected to reach an annual freight volume of 400,000 tons and realise a trade value of 2 billion yuan, according to the newspaper.