HANGZHOU, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The China-Europe cargo train has opened a regular postal service linking eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, dubbed as the country's small commodity hub, with Madrid, Spain, according to the China Railway Shanghai Group Co., Ltd.
On Friday morning, a train carrying over 200,000 postal items including masks and protection suites left Yiwu and is expected to arrive in Spain 16 days later, marking the start of the service.
The train will cross China's border through the Alataw Pass to reach Poland in 13 days, and some parcels on the train will be transferred to European countries, including Britain, France and Germany.
The Europe-bound rail service helps cope with the surging demand for medical supplies and daily necessities amid the COVID-19 outbreak worldwide, according to the China Railway Shanghai Group Co., Ltd.
The first China-Europe freight train carrying anti-epidemic supplies to Europe departed from Yiwu on March 21.
Since November 2014, when the first freight train was operated from Yiwu to Madrid, some 1,200 trains have carried over 96,700 containers to Europe.
