A China-Europe freight train, loaded with 50 vehicles of photovoltaic inverters, electric compressors, vacuum cleaners and other goods, departed from the major transportation hub Xi’an in Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province on Wednesday before heading to Duisburg, Germany, marking the first China-Europe cargo train with full-time schedule. The train is due to arrive at the destination on November 5.

The opening of the first full-time schedule freight train between China and Europe will escalate the transportation efficiency while strengthening the competiveness of the cross-border cargo train in the international market, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning commented on Thursday, responding to media.

Previously, when China-Europe trains passed through various countries, the local railway department had to set the running time according to the actual situation on the ground, which was easy to cause many invalid stops on the route, while impossible to realize the fixed arrival and departure time of the whole journey, according to media reports.

After the full-time schedule of the China-Europe trains start running, the schedules of each section of the domestic and foreign railway trains will be connected throughout the whole process, and the arrival and departure time will be clarified, which will help control the operation time of each link and achieve smooth handover of each section.

China-Europe freight trains have operated more than 14,000 trains so far this year.