A train marking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative departed Yiwuxi Railway Station in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, for Madrid, Spain at 14:30 on Nov 21.

The train, loaded with 110 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers of general merchandise, Christmas goods, auto parts, and mechanical equipment, is the 1,496th Yiwu-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Express (CR Express) train to set out from the Yiwu platform in 2023.

The express service covers more than 50 countries and over 160 cities in Eurasia, reaching 101 overseas stations.

To date, the Yiwu platform has operated 6,400 round-trip trains, ranking among the highest in China.

The goods transported by the trains have also become more diverse, gradually shifting from mainly small commodities like daily necessities to high-value high-tech products such as automobiles and accessories, photovoltaic products, and mechanical equipment.

From January to October, the express service carried 31.59 billion yuan ($4.44 billion) in imports and exports, up 16.4 percent year-on-year, increasing for the ninth year in a row.

In the future, Yiwu will keep striving to achieve the stable and smooth running of the express service and the optimization of its transport structure, increasing its quality and bringing stronger benefits and more safety.