The arrival of the first cargo train from China on Monday marked the revival of the ancient Silk Road. Loaded with commercial goods, the train set off from Yiwu City in China’s Zhejiang Province on January 28. It covered 10,399 km, passing through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, to reach the border station of Sarakhs in Iran’s Khorasan Razavi Province, IRNA reported. The train was welcomed by Iranian railroad officials as well as Chinese and Turkmen envoys to Tehran. “The sea journey would have taken 30 days. The rail route, however, has reduced this to less than 14 days, which proves the Silk Road to be the most efficient way to connect the two countries,” said Mohsen Pourseyyed Aqaei, deputy minister of roads and urban development. Aqaei noted that the route has been launched not only to transfer commodities from China to Iran, but to connect the East Asian country to Europe. Iran’s rail transit in the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2015) amounts to 1.5 million tons. With the revival of the Silk Road, the figure is estimated to rise to 4 million tons next year (starting March 20, 2016).
