Xinjiang's railway freight volume exceeds 200 million tonnes

URUMQI, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The railway freight volume of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region since the beginning of this year has reached 200 million tonnes, according to China Railway Urumqi Group Co., Ltd.

Coal is the main cargo transported by railway in the region. As of Friday, a total of 121 million tonnes of coal have been transported by railway in Xinjiang, up 5.38 percent year on year, of which, 51.54 million tonnes of coal were sent outside Xinjiang, up 8.4 percent year on year.

In line with the transportation needs of key materials, Xinjiang has increased its capacity to support the transportation of goods such as fertilizers, metal ores, cotton, ketchup and juice. As of Friday, 260,500 tonnes of ketchup, chili sauce, sugar, flour and other products had been transported, up 18.1 percent year on year.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Xinjiang has taken a slew of measures to improve the transport efficiency of China-Europe freight trains.

As of Friday, the Alashankou Port had handled 6,260 China-Europe freight trains, up 7.1 percent year on year, and the Horgos Port had handled 7,268 such trains, up 10 percent year on year.