HOHHOT — A total of 1,500 China-Europe freight trains have passed through the border port of Erenhot in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region since the beginning of this year, sources with the local railway company said on Sept 4.

The 1,500th train this year entered the port around 9:45 am on Sept 4 on its journey to Russia from the eastern Chinese city of Hefei.

Among the 1,500 trains, 691 were outbound, up 42.1 percent year-on-year, and 809 were inbound, up 44.5 percent.

As the COVID-19 epidemic wanes in China, Erenhot Port has seen an increasing number of China-Europe freight trains — from fewer than two trains per day in March to about eight at present, said Zang Zhixian, who works at the China Railway Hohhot Group.

To better meet the needs of the China-Europe freight train service, Erenhot's railway department has transformed part of its bulk cargo space, which originally handled logs and iron ore, into container reloading areas for the trains, Zang said, adding that train reloading and handling capacities have risen by some 30 percent.

Erenhot Port is the largest land port on the border between China and Mongolia. There are 42 China-Europe freight train routes that pass through the port.