China has started a rail freight service linking the western Xinjiang region also known as a “core area” of the Silk Road economic belt with Moscow. It is expected to deliver $8.1 billion worth of cargo annually, Xinhua reported. The rail authorities in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region announced the setting up of an additional train service westward. The first train to travel the new route left the region’s capital Urumqi on Wednesday afternoon and will reach Moscow in about 10 days. Loaded with 1,300 tons of PVC (polyvinyl chloride resin), it will travel more than 4,000 kilometers and return with wood pulp from Russia.
