A view of Yiwu Railway Port. [Photo/ zj.zjol.com.cn]

Ten Europe-bound freight trains departed from the city of Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang province on Feb 17, setting a new record for the number of such train services conducted in a single day.

Dubbed Yixin'ou in Chinese (Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe), the cargo line is 13,052 kilometers long and connects China's small commodities hub with Europe.

The seven-day Spring Festival holiday, which ran from Feb 11 to 17, saw a total of 33 Yixin'ou train services, which transported roughly 3,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) of daily necessities, medical supplies, auto parts, and other goods to European cities such as Madrid in Spain and Minsk in Belarus.

As air and sea freight has been restricted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, railway transport has filled the void. To meet the surge in demand, Yixin'ou train service operators have been working overtime, even during the Spring Festival holiday.

Gong Zigang, a yardman who manages the cargo at the Yiwu Railway Port, only took two days off during the holiday.

"The return trains from Europe in recent days are fully loaded with cargo, and this has greatly increased my workload," Gong said.

"A Spring Festival holiday in previous years only saw a few Yixin'ou train services carrying cargo that was leftover prior to the holiday. But this year's holiday saw many new cargo being transported on a daily basis. My company alone prepared enough cargo to be transported by five Yixin'ou train services," said Lin Huihuan, general manager of a logistics company.

To ensure the smooth operation of Yixin'ou train services, Yiwu customs added service windows on Feb 13 and 15.