On Monday, February 10, a cargo train departed from the Chinese Chongqing to Hairatan in Afghanistan, marking the launch of the first direct rail route connecting the Chinese metropolis in southwest China with Afghanistan, Xinhua said.
The train, carrying 55 containers with telecommunications equipment manufactured by Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE, will cross the Chinese-Kazakh border through the Khorgos checkpoint in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and reach its destination in Hairatan via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The entire journey is scheduled to take 12-15 days. This is 3-5 days faster than road transport, and logistics costs are expected to decrease by 15-20%.
The cargo will reportedly be used in the construction of local communications networks in Afghanistan.
