XI'AN, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The northwestern Chinese city of Xi'an will open two more new routes of its China-Europe freight train service to Central and Eastern European countries by year-end, according to Xi'an International Inland Port Intermodality Co., Ltd.

The first route will link Xi'an, Chop in Ukraine and Budapest in Hungary, while cargo on another route is scheduled to arrive in cities including Vienna in Austria, Ploiesti in Romania and Istanbul in Turkey.

On July 24, the first train on another newly opened route to Kiev in Ukraine left Xi'an. It will pass through Mongolia and Russia before reaching Kiev.

So far, Xi'an has launched 15 freight train routes linking 45 cities in 14 countries in Eurasia. The city launched 1,667 freight trains to these cities in the first half of this year, doubling the number from the same period last year.