A freight train left China's central city of Zhengzhou on Sunday, marking the resumption of Henan Province's exports to Belt and Road countries following the conclusion of the Spring Festival holiday amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

The train's 41 containers weighing 615.8 tons contain goods such as mechanical and electrical equipment, metal products, precision parts and daily necessities.

On Friday, the first China-Europe freight that resumed operations after the Chinese New Year holiday made its departure from the city of Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province.

The cargo includes communication devices, ATMs, circuit boards and vacuum cleaners produced in the Pearl River Delta.

The operation of freight trains in Guangdong was suspended due to the holiday and coronavirus epidemic outbreak. The train is expected to arrive in Kaluga, Russia in a fortnight, the China Railway Guangzhou Group said.

"With enterprises in the Pearl River Delta resuming operations, there will be more China-Europe freight trains with more containers," said Peng Tang of the Guangdong branch of China Railway Container Transport Corporation.

Earlier this week, the freight train service from Zhejiang Province to Central Asia also resumed. A train loaded with 82 standard containers left a railway station in the city of Jinhua, eastern China's Zhejiang Province.

The cargo including hardware tools, textiles and auto parts is heading to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian countries through the Horgos Port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Efforts help enterprises resume work and clearance

China has been working hard to fight the outbreak, while seeking to maintain the smooth resumption of work for enterprises. 

In order to ensure the smooth export of goods, the customs and some other relevant departments made contact with local export enterprises via phone, massaging apps and other means to learn about the impact on their operations of the epidemic, solve any difficulties regarding customs clearance and help enterprises resume production, according to Jinhua customs.

Additionally, the department said that it had started conducting a 24/7 clearance mechanism to guarantee effective customs clearance to maintain on-schedule departure of freight trains.

The China Europe freight train, also known as China Railway Express, was first launched in March 2011 with just 17 trips all year. Since then, freight volumes have seen a substantial increase with 8,225 trips made in 2019. 

The first service, then known as the YU-XIN-OU or the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe International Railway, began in Chongqing in southwest China before heading to Duisburg in Germany via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland. 

As a crucial part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the network today is composed of 65 domestic lines and links with rail abroad through Alashankou Pass, a major rail port in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Erenhot, as well as Manzhouli in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. 

There are also freight trains between China and Central Asian countries, departing from Tianjin, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and other Chinese cities.