This photo shows the first train of a new international multimodal transport route departing from Langfang City, north China's Hebei Province, July 4, 2023. (Photo by Jia Jun/Xinhua)

North China's Hebei Province launched its new international multimodal transport route on Tuesday, which relies on railways and highways to transport goods to Central Asian countries.

On Tuesday morning, a train carrying over 1,000 tonnes of goods departed from Langfang City in Hebei. After arriving at Kashgar City in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the goods will be transported via cross-border highways. They will be carried by train again after reaching Kyrgyzstan and transported to the final destination of Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.

The route from China to Uzbekistan is about 6,000 km long, and it is estimated it will take about 12 days to complete the trip, according to China Railway Beijing Group Co., Ltd.

The new multimodal transport route is expected to further promote the development of economic and trade relations between China and Uzbekistan, helping to ensure high efficiency in transport while also reducing the cost.

Last year, China issued a five-year work plan to promote the development of multimodal transport, amid efforts to optimize and adjust its transport structure. According to the work plan, by 2025, the development level of multimodal transport in the country will have been significantly improved.