A China-Europe freight train bound for Western Europe from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, departed for the city of Tilburg in the Netherlands on May 10, with the train set to become the first to depart Nanjing for a destination in Western Europe.

The train was carrying 455 tonnes of goods packed into 100 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units), including electronic products, auto parts, daily necessities, and medical equipment. It will pass through Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, and Germany, before eventually arriving in the transportation hub of the Netherlands where it will finally finish its 11,583-kilometer journey.

It will take about 18 days for the train to arrive in Tilburg, which is only one-third the time it takes to ship items via the traditional maritime route.

With developed transportation networks, Tilburg is one of the fastest-growing logistics hubs in Europe. It became Changzhou’s sister city in 1997. In recent years, the two cities have carried out frequent exchanges. In 2016, Tilburg hosted an investment and logistics promotion conference in Changzhou, with a focus on China-Europe freight trains. The new inter-continental freight train will bring more opportunities for bilateral trade and cooperation between the two cities.