A freight train departed on June 20 from Guoyuan port in Liangjiang New Area to Nansha port in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong province. Another freight train from the opposite direction was also launched the same day.
The new Chongqing-Guangzhou freight trains carried raw materials from Japan, South Korea and the Middle East, as well as chemical products and machines to be exported to Africa, Europe, America and South Asia. The freight trains were expected to travel three days before arriving at their destinations.
Exports from Chongqing and other parts of western China to Africa and South Asia will arrive 10 days earlier than traditional sea transport, and logistics costs will be reduced by about 10 percent.
Through efforts by both sides, the two freight trains will operate every week on a regular basis.
The new route boasts the connectivity of the Chongqing-Chengdu economic circle with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and enables laptops, electromechanical products and auto spare parts produced in Liangjiang New Area and other districts of Chongqing to be sold overseas, said Qin Shubin, deputy director of Liangjiang's administrative committee.
John Edwards, the UK trade commissioner for China, praised Chongqing over its rise as a burgeoning center in intelligent manufacturing.