Freight train X9081 heading for Kazakhstan's Almaty is ready to leave a major logistics center in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, March 15, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhao Ge)
This year, 300 westbound transnational freight trains will run from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 80 more than last year.
Two hundred will be bound for central Asian countries, 50 for Russia and 20 for Germany, Turkey and Iran, according to the regional economic and information technology commission.
Last year, 220 transnational freight trains left from Xinjiang, nearly triple the number in 2015. The service has boosted Xinjiang's export of chemical products, construction materials, machinery, automobile parts, garments and food.
Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia, is strategically positioned on the Silk Road Economic Belt, part of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013.
The region's westbound trains reach Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Poland and Georgia.
