Completing a landmark journey on Saturday, an express train from London pulled into Yiwu, a city in east China's Zhejiang Province that has been called the world's biggest small goods trading market. The London-Yiwu service is the eighth China Railway Express (CRE) international line, coming after already established routes to Central Asia, Spain, Iran, Russia, Afghanistan, Belarus, and Latvia.

Departing from London on April 10, the express train spent 19 days traveling through France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan, covering a total distance of 12,451 kilometers.

As of April 29, CRE lines have seen 162 trips between Yiwu and European destinations, delivering 12,612 standard containers in both directions. While the majority of goods being transported were small commodities exported from Yiwu to 11 other countries, Yiwu's local authorities decided to better utilize the express delivery service.

In 2016, Yiwu established a China-Europe Intelligence Park to attract high-end manufacturing, including a German turbo engine program, new energy automotive solutions from the UK and a leading LED project.

Moreover, the CRE lines cover 27 Chinese cities in 21 provinces and regions. Other major cities like Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Chongqing are also listed as departure stations, and can all benefit from the direct transportation link to Europe.