right items. The 4-storey Centre
stretches 4 km long. According
to the management of Yiwu
Trade Center, if one visits each
shop for just three minutes daily
from 8 am to 5 pm, it will take
more than one year to visit all
the shops.
Freight Train from Yiwu,
China to Tehran, Iran
Longest railway route in the world
Iranian officials and Chinese embassy staff welcoming the arrival
of the freight train from Yiwu, China.
A freight train carrying 32
containers with 1,400 tons of
cargo consisting mainly of SME
products left Yiwu ,China on
January 28, 2016 and arrived
in Tehran, Iran 14 days later
covering a total of 6,462 miles.
The traditional shipping route
from Shanghai Port to the
Iranian port of Bandar Abbas
would take 45 days; an extra of
30 days.
The freight train passed
through Kazakhs t an and
Turkmenistan before reaching
Iran with two breaks that
necessitated the transfer of
cargo containers. While China
and Iran use the standard gauge
for the rail track, Central Asia
uses a different track gauge due
to Russian influence.
The Managing Director of
Iran’s Railway Company who
was present at the welcoming
ceremony at Tehran’s Railway
station upon arrival of the
f r e i g h t t r ain c o mm e n t e d
that this maiden journey is a
revival of “Silk Road Economic
Belt”. With this, Iran hopes to
act as transit hub for freight
trains between East Asia and
Europe.
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