China-Europe freight trains have made 2,200 journeys departing from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, three years after the Urumqi transport hub opened.

According to the local government, 353 China-Europe freight trains have departed from Urumqi so far this year. 　　"On some routes, the service can slash the transportation time in half, cutting more than 30 percent of the logistics costs," said Liu Zhenjun, deputy manager of a freight forwarder company in Urumqi.

With the trade volume increasing between China and Europe in recent years, Urumqi started to offer a one-stop service that integrates customs clearance, inspection and quarantine, train transportation, and freight logistics to cut transportation costs and time.

So far, the Urumqi transport hub has opened 21 rail routes to 26 cities in 19 European and Central Asian countries.

The city has seen its China-Europe train service increase from one trip a week to three trips a day since 2016, transporting more than 200 items of goods including daily necessities, clothing, machinery, plumbing and building materials, as well as electronic accessories.