EASTERN China hinterland city recently held a promotional campaign for the planned "New Eurasian Land Bridge", which is a new railway cargo transportation route to Europe. 

Being another among many of such rail freight routes to Europe that are launched during recent years from China's inland cities, the Hefei-Europe route will run through northern city Zhengzhou, west China's Xian, Lanzhou and Urumqi, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany. 

The railway route is said to enjoy much lower cost than using air service while the transport time will be 15 days shorter than by ocean shipping, according to Xinhua's report, quoting a source from Hefei city's Bureau of Commerce. 

Hefei's foreign trade has been growing at a rate of more than 20 per cent in recent years. A fast and convenient rail freight transport route is said to be necessary in order to meet increasing demand for moving foreign-bound freight, and will help to spur development ofHefei's export-oriented economy.