A freight train bound for Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, leaves Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province on May 4. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

A freight train carrying 100 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) headed for Vilnius, capital of Lithuania from Yiwu, Zhejiang province on May 4. The train is the 12th Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe rail link and a reliable transportation channel connecting China and the Baltic Sea.

The train will leave China from Khorgos in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, pass by Kazakhstan, Russia, and Belarus, and finally arrive in Lithuania, where the cargos will be distributed to 36 European countries, including Spain, France, and Denmark.

Lithuania, located on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, is strategically located in the Asia-Europe logistics network.

The Yiwu-Vilnius freight trains will run weekly. They cover the longest distance and have the largest cargo capacity among all China-Europe trains departing from Yiwu.

A freight train bound for Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, leaves Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province on May 4. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe train service, which first ran from Yiwu to Madrid in Spain in 2014, now has 12 international routes to 37 countries and regions. In 2019, a total of 528 trains were launched, shipping over 100,000 TEUs.

The service is becoming increasingly popular as shipping companies and airlines have suspended or restricted commercial operations due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The first train carrying medical supplies departed from Yiwu on March 21. As of May 4, the Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe freight service has launched 133 trains carrying 11,220 TEUs, up 44.1 percent year on year.