Date: 25/02/2015

The first train to complete a journey on the world’s longest railway line, connecting Spain and China, has returned home. The 16,156-mile round trip on the new Yixin’ou cargo line through China, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France and Spain took four months. The train arrived laden with cheap goods and returned to China with expensive olive oil. [From Mark Bartlett]

External links

China succeeds with first 16,000-mile shopping trip to Spain

Independent

Before the Yixin'ou line was opened, goods traded between the EU and China depended on inefficient sea or air transport, meaning higher prices in Europe