North China’s Shanxi Province recently launched its first rail-road intermodal freight train along the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan intermodal transport corridor, marking the start of a new international logistics route linking the province with Central Asia, Xinhua reported with reference to China Railway Taiyuan Group Co., Ltd.
The launch of the route highlights Shanxi’s economic transition from being a traditional coal base to developing advanced manufacturing sectors like solar panel production.
The first train departed from the Zhongding logistics park in central Shanxi on a route to the Kashgar North station in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, carrying solar panels. Containers were then transported out of the country by road via Irkeshtam Port, China’s westernmost land port and a critical gateway to Kyrgyzstan, and passed through Kyrgyzstan, eventually arriving in Andijan, Uzbekistan.
The 9-day journey reduced the time by six days compared to the previous route, according to Gao Jianwen, operations department director at Shanxi Zhongding Logistics Group Co., Ltd. The previous route linking China with Uzbekistan traveled via Horgos Port, covering 4,935 km and passing through Kazakhstan’s Almaty and Uzbekistan’s Tashkent.
