A cargo train, or 40 sets of containers full of building materials, left Urumqi at 6:30 pm on July 7, and is scheduled to reach Alma-Ata, the biggest city of Kazakhstan, in about 40 hours.

The Urumqi transport hub in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region launched its China-Europe (China-Asia) freight train service in May 2016. A total of 401 trains had operated through the hub as of June 30 this year, seeing a rapid increase. With 66 trains running in June, it means two trains every day.

Trains from the Urumqi hub are expected to leave China through Alataw Pass or Horgos, two border cities in the autonomous region, arriving in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Poland, Germany or other countries. The cargo is mainly steel, gasoline, electronic device, auto parts and clothing.

Xinjiang, located in the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt, is along the west route of three planned China-Europe (China-Asia) freight train service routes, in addition to an east route and a central route. China plans to create 43 transport hubs along the three routes.

More than 4,000 freight train journeys have been made between Chinese and European and Central Asian cities since August 2011, according to the latest data from China Railway Corporation.

Ts.cn contributed to this story.