XI'AN, Dec. 15 -- Xi'an, the capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, has handled over 5,000 China-Europe freight trains so far this year, up 15.6 percent year on year, said local authorities on Friday.

Since the launch of the service in the city in 2013, Xi'an has handled over 21,100 China-Europe freight trains over the past decade. Xi'an international port station has thus become China's first railway station to have launched more than 20,000 China-Europe freight trains, with one train leaving or arriving at the station every 100 minutes on average.

The volume of China-Europe freight trains to and from Xi'an has increased steadily each year since 2013.

To date, there are 17 international China-Europe freight train routes linking Xi'an with major source locations in Eurasia.