XI’AN (Xinhua) — A freight train arrived Wednesday in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province in northwest China, delivering festive food from Kazakhstan to Chinese residents in preparation for the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival (February 12 of this year).

Xi’an City jurisdiction in Shaanxi

The train, which is part of the China-Europe freight train service between China and the continent, as well as Central Asia, carried 49 wagons of flour, cooking oil, honey and candy. The shipment’s contents were produced by the Kazakhstan processing park of the Xi’an-based grain and oil industrial group Aiju. The group established in 2015 a logistics and processing park for agricultural products in Kazakhstan as a part of the Belt and Road initiative (BRI).

In 2020, a total of 7620 tonnes of goods in 127 wagons were imported by the China-Europe freight train service, said Liu Dongmeng, the group’s deputy general manager.

Bai Kuanfeng, head of Xinzhu station in Xi’an, said that 183 trips of China-Europe freight trains had been made since Xi’an this year as of Tuesday, an increase of 99.32% over the previous year. The number of return train journeys reached 126, an increase of 98.67% over the same period.

Exports transported by trains include mainly construction materials, agricultural products and by-products, basic necessities and medical supplies, while imports consist of mechanical equipment, electronic products, cars and car parts, Bai said.