Zhejiang province in East China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Czech Railways (ČD), the largest railway service provider in the Czech Republic, on June 11, to seek partnership in freight transport.

According to the MOU, Lovosice, an industrial town in the northwest of the Czech Republic, is selected as a station along the "Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe" cargo line, which departs from East China's Yiwu, the world's biggest market for small commodities, through Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, and then onwards to Europe.

The station will provide China Railway Express trains traveling between China and Europe with a wide range of services, including docking, loading and unloading, storage, customs clearance and transfer.

Additionally, commodities from European ports will be transferred to Lovosice station, making the town a distribution hub in Europe to further facilitate trade between China and the Czech Republic.

In addition, the two countries also reached a consensus on building infrastructure together, such as freight yards in Lovosice and neighboring areas.

Train X8074, the first-ever export train from the Czech Republic to China arrives in Yiwu of Zhejiang province on Aug 4, 2017 after a 16-day journey. [Photo by Lyu Bin/Xinhua]