URUMQI, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A freight train loaded with chemical products departed from a station in the Urumqi International Land Port Area, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, heading for Belarus Friday.
It marks the first round-trip freight train service opening between Urumqi, capital of the region, and Belarus.
The train carried 41 containers loaded with melamine, weighing 1,025 tonnes, produced by a local chemical company in Xinjiang.
Liu Chaoyang, general manager of a transport company under the Urumqi International Land Port Group which operates the freight trains, said the round-trip freight train service was launched as a very significant step under the Belt and Road Initiative, which will help the region's companies explore new international markets.
The transport company has launched regular round-trip freight train services from Urumqi to Russia this year, and the operation frequency is two times each week.
The trains have taken Xinjiang's products such as tomato sauce and PVC to Russia while the returning trains have brought cooking oil, wheat, timber and frozen meat to Urumqi, according to Liu, adding that regular round-trip freight trains between Urumqi and Belarus will be launched in the future.
So far, Urumqi International Land Port Area has launched more than 2,400 China-Europe freight trains on 20 routes leading to 25 cities in 18 foreign countries.
