A freight train loaded with 50 containers of machinery and equipment left southwest China's Chongqing Municipality Sunday for the capital of Ukraine, marking the launch of Chongqing's new freight train route.

On March 19, 2021, an aerial photo shows a Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) China-Europe freight train running beneath a bridge in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Tang Yi)

The freight train is scheduled to pass through the border port of Erenhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and will reach its destination in mid-September.

Previously, exports from Chongqing to Ukraine had to go through Belarus or Poland rather than heading directly for Ukraine. The new route is the municipality's first direct international freight train route to Kyiv. It is expected to facilitate further trade between Europe and the western regions of China.

Chongqing is a primary hub for China-Europe freight trains. The Yuxinou (Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe) railway, the first China-Europe freight train route, saw 1,359 trips in the first half of 2021, up over 50 percent year on year, according to the port and logistics office of the municipal government.

Since the railway was put into operation in 2011, Yuxinou has launched more than 30 routes, connecting over 40 cities across 26 countries, and the routes have recorded over 8,000 freight train trips.