HÀ NỘI — A freight train service between Hà Nội and Nanchang City in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi was launched on Wednesday.
A train loaded with auto parts and office equipment departed from the Henggang Railway Station in Nanchang on the day, marking the launch of the service.
The total length of the route is more than 1,700km, passing through Pingxiang City in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to Việt Nam.
The journey will take some five days, 15 days less than the original route through sea. The cost is only half that of road transport. The train service will become regular next year.
The new service is expected to promote economic and trade cooperation between landlocked Chinese provinces such as Jiangxi and Southeast Asia.
In another move, leaders of northern mountainous Lào Cai Province of Việt Nam and Yunnan Province of China have agreed to build a bridge across the Hồng (Red) River to connect the two localities.
The agreement was reached at a meeting held between Yunnan Province and five localities of Việt Nam in the northern port city of Hải Phòng on Wednesday. — LV
