WUHAN — A freight train departed in the morning on May 17 from Wuhan, the capital of Central China's Hubei province, to Laos' Luang Prabang, marking the launch of Hubei's first international freight train that runs via the China-Laos Railway.

The train is loaded with 1,650 tonnes of fertilizer materials and scheduled to arrive in Luang Prabang in seven to ten days.

The route will expand the trade channel between Hubei and major cities of Southeast Asian countries and promote regional economic trade exchanges and people-to-people exchanges.

"The opening of the route is good news for enterprises as the transportation time between the two localities via the railway will save more than half compared with the traditional shipping mode. The logistics cost will also reduce a great deal. Enterprises will likely ship more goods through this line," said Xiong Yunfeng, the general manager of a local agricultural product company.