China opens freight train route linked with ASEAN countries

A new freight train service linking central China's Hunan province and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was launched by China Railway Guangzhou Group Co., Ltd on March 31.

A new freight train service linking central China's Hunan province and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was launched on March 31

Xinhua News Agency reported that a cargo train loaded with industrial products such as silicon dioxide and hot rolled bars left Hunan in the morning of the same day.

It will arrive in Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi in about seven days via south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The route is expected to operate on a weekly basis after a three-month trial run. It is expected to further boost trade between ASEAN countries and Hunan.

ASEAN was China's largest trading partner last year. Data showed that in 2020, the total trade volume between the 10 ASEAN countries and Hunan reached 81.03 billion CNY (about 12.35 billion USD), a year-on-year increase of 30.9 percent, and accounted for 16.6 percent of Hunan's total foreign trade.

The ASEAN-Hunan trade volume further soared by 86.3 percent against the same period last year to 10.15 billion CNY in the first two months of 2021./.

VNA