Pic story: Cargo trains open new channel for China, Europe exchanges (9)

File photo taken on July 18, 2013 shows the first direct cargo train leaving from Zhengzhou to Europe at the railway container center in Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan Province. Zhengzhou is one of the Chinese cities having direct cargo trains to Europe. Starting from Zhengzhou, a logistics center and transport hub in Henan, the 10,214-kilometer Zhengzhou-Europe international shuttle train crosses the border at the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang before passing through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland on its way to Germany's Hamburg. The Zhengzhou-Europe express railway service, which opened in July, 2013, has brought more imported goods, such as IT products, clothes, food and automobile parts to Chinese and European customers. The ancient Silk Road linked China and Europe, and people along the road traded not only commodities but exchanged their cultures and civilizations. Today, cargo trains were a logical development, opening a new channel for the transfer of goods to and from China's central and western regions to compete with the traditional maritime route from the east coast. (Xinhua/Zhu Xiang)